Mary Fitzpatrick (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the elected members and executives for attending, particularly the elected members. They have a job to do to get elected and look after their constituents but are here representing local authority members from all over the country. They are also cathaoirligh for their local authority areas and members of regional assemblies. The role of local authority members is not sufficiently recognised and valued. We appreciate their time, the work they do and their input into this legislation. It is enormous. They are not the only ones daunted by it. We have two months now of pre-legislative scrutiny but I know many of the witnesses already contributed to the 17 or 18 months that got the draft Bill to this stage. We would appreciate if they would make available to us the detailed submissions they will make available to the Department. They will be important and will be reflected in our report. Then there will be another round of consideration in Custom House and it will come back here and go through both Houses. We are a long way from the finish line and the inputs the witnesses make today and throughout this journey are incredibly valuable. I thank them for that and acknowledge it.

Some contributions and questions have touched on areas I wanted clarity on. Councillor Shannon mentioned taking in charge and the CCMA in his submission. It is a bugbear and it is great to see it will be properly dealt with in this legislation. We need certainty and clarity in our planning process, but we also need confidence. For the public to have confidence in buying into a new estate and creating and investing in a new community, they need to know they will have the same level of support from their local authorities their neighbours in adjoining estates have. I ask Mr. Shannon if LAMA intends to make a detailed proposal for inclusion the legislation on compelling or encouraging developers. If so, will he share with us how he thinks it should work?