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

I move amendment No. 49:

In page 24, to delete lines 28 to 35.

This follows on from what the Minister of State just said because we are finally getting some clarity on this. Amendment No. 49 deals with section 7(2) in which the two phrases, "having regard to the guidelines" and "shall consider", are used. I am hoping the Minister of State will tell us that this does not have the same legal force as section 28 mandatory ministerial guidelines in terrestrial planning. Even though they are called guidelines, they are actually directives although they are just not described as such. On the basis of what the Minister of State outlined, is it correct to assume that these ministerial guidelines will be more procedural? For example, if the objective of the planning policy statement is X, the guideline is setting out how the relevant public body will get to achieve X.Rather than setting out a policy principle, it sets out how to reach something. I am looking for the Minister of State to say that these guidelines are not mandatory and that they are procedural rather than substantive, if that makes sense.