Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Thank you. First of all, I thank Deputy Shanahan for this initiative. It is very positive and, as he said himself, it is a start. The Deputy used the word "gentle" twice and it certainly is that, but he wants to get this across the line and that is the most important thing. Legislation, if it is put in place, can be amended afterwards. It depends on who is in government and whether they view it as turkeys voting for Christmas. Any government which would be interested in transparency and good governance would take this on board and, indeed, strengthen it. But as the Deputy said, we have to start somewhere and this is a good start. Like Deputy Shanahan, I note the paper sent by John Daly from the Northern and Western Regional Assembly. I commend that body and the work it does, because without the kind of information the Deputy speaks about, it is very difficult to analyse what is happening.

Very often we find that we all look at outcomes and results and we wonder how that happened. I will just give one example, which is a pretty shocking one. In 2021, the GDP figure for the Border region was 52% of the European average. That is a Eurostat figure. That is the lowest since such figures began. Back in the early 2000s this figure was 98%. There is something disastrously wrong there and it is to try to find out what it is. People like me and other TDs are constantly asking questions and asking where the money is being spent. To be honest, the answers we get involve a Minister, a Taoiseach or somebody pointing to a recent project and telling us we got that. That is not balanced regional development. That is what keeps happening unless we have something like this Bill in place and unless there is accountability.

I have one or two questions. The first one that occurs to me is the five-year wait period. I know it means people will be aware of this in the beginning, and that will probably - Mr. Power said it best - change behaviour. Still, five years is a long time and many Ministers will have moved on. Accountability, while it is there, is still quite a time away. Do any of the witnesses envisage that a shorter timeframe could work?