Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

According to the Minister, it is fair enough to try to act to prevent things unnecessarily being lengthened. We have already said that, by and large, that does not happen and the process works. The Minister should accept that there may be circumstances in which a development could take place based on an amendment, which members of the public have never seen, that is substantial and that could not have been envisaged. The Minister cannot deprive people of their rights to participate and be consulted on something that is going to impact on their environment and on them. The Minister cannot deprive them of that right. This in a very small number of circumstances. There is no question of this being allowed to go on forever and ever, as long as the correct threshold is created. However, he has to accept, and I hope he does notwithstanding certain concerns about the consequences of doing it wrong, that it just would not be fair if people never had a right to comment and that something which people could not have possibly envisaged is developed.

Does the Minister know what I mean? Surely he accepts that.