Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 52:

In page 10, line 31, after “may” to insert “, following consultation with the relevant Oireachtas Committee,”.

The Minister will remember that when he was on the Opposition benches with the rest of us he used to fight this good fight regularly when the previous Ministers brought forward legislation. The key issue is that there are many sections of this Bill which give the Minister significant powers to introduce regulations governing the operation of the LDA, land transfers and acquisitions and other matters. As the Minister well knows, when, for example, there is a proposed change to planning regulations, there is a very straightforward procedure whereby the Minister consults the relevant Oireachtas committee and then a motion is laid before the Dáil to approve or not approve said regulations. I fully understand that regulations are primarily a function of the Minister and the Government, but the Minister was before the committee recently to consult on changes to planning regulations in the context of Covid-19, which he discussed and which we strongly welcomed, and that level of transparency and accountability is very important. These four amendments are in the spirit of greater accountability, transparency and respect for the functions of the Oireachtas. I hope the Minister will be able to support them or to give an undertaking that he will examine them to see if it is possible to bring forward amendments of his own on Report Stage.