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

I can go back and have a look at them now but from memory, that is the way they are. Even if there was some way of clustering submissions together and dealing with their issues rather than referencing the submission reference numbers, etc., that could work. I am sure the officials can tell us how many submissions there were to the NPF last time. It was a very large number. There has to be a mechanism because the public has a right to know their submissions were considered and, if they were not taken on board, the reasons for that, in summary form. Otherwise, I think it will lead people to feel that sure, there is a “consultation”, but there is no real engagement with the substance of submissions.

That is just a recipe for undermining public confidence and participation in the process.