Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I absolutely think it would be helpful. The Acting Chair asked earlier about what was holding us back. Change is difficult, as he said, and it is often contested. Increasingly in Ireland it is contested in the courts. That is increasingly an issue that makes it very difficult to innovate, experiment or deliver things quickly. I will give an example in own constituency but it is an example people will know, namely, Strand Road in Sandymount where we were looking at putting in a cycle lane. That was contested and a judgment was given and appealed. We have been waiting almost a year and a half now or longer on the appeal court judgement. That process has probably taken four years from concept, the local authority deciding to proceed and the project being judicially challenged to the current stage where we are still awaiting a court decision. The project was not without consequences for the local area, and local people have the right to express concerns, but the four-year process is the opposite of experimentation or being able to test. It is four years of nothing happening. That is a challenge that we need to resolve. The court system has to consider how to make sure we do not turn Ireland into a litigious battleground where it is very difficult to do any innovation or deliver projects.