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

I will make a final point about it. Unfortunately, the policy committees the Minister of State mentioned do not have any real statutory function. They are statutory committees, but they are broadly consultative as the Minister of State will be aware from his time on the council, like the rest of us. The development plan, not unlike the current expenditure budget, is one of the few areas where councillors have some real policymaking functions, albeit that the centralisation in this Bill will further reduce that.

If I am to consider Report Stage amendments, if I were to find a way to craft amendments that do not have the unintended knock-on consequences on the ten year development plan, would the Government at least give some consideration to finding a mechanism to bring councillors into the review earlier without in any way diminishing the ten year life cycle of a plan?