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

The wording of the amendments is very similar to the wording of similar amendments to section 6, which are about Oireachtas participation. We will not repeat the whole debate we had previously. Some of us would like to hear, and something with which the Minister of State is familiar because he does it with us regularly in committee, when there are changes to certain aspects of planning policy that there is a procedure where they are brought in at least to an Oireachtas committee and there is a discussion and a motion with or without debate to clear those through. I am not proposing that same mechanism, but what motivated the three of us here who put our names to this is we would like to see some greater role. The Minister of State's officials will have advised him this is a far too onerous set of requirements we are setting out and he will not support those, but is there willingness to conceive of some formal role or process for the Oireachtas to be involved in this, in the way we often are? Solar panels or some of the emergency measures introduced in planning about on-street dining and such are examples. Some of those are planning guidelines. How can we better involve the Oireachtas? If the Minister of State is rejecting what we proposed, which we know he is, and that is his absolute right, can he at least take the spirit of what we are talking about and examine it? There is merit in engaging with the collective experience of the Oireachtas and members of relevant committees, but also for public confidence in those guidelines because of the involvement of committee and public transparency etc.