Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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I have similar concerns and questions about who will be consulted. Why, for example, are bodies like the National Parks and Wildlife Service, NPWS, not listed? I have concerns about the level of discretion provided for in this section.

Second, there is a significant material change contained in the wording of the amendments. It goes from referring to the submissions being considered by the Minister to talking about a summary of the submissions being considered by the Minister. The summary of the submissions is done by the Office of the Planning Regulator. These are submissions on what that office is proposing to do.

The Minister will no longer consider the submissions, but simply the summary of the submissions prepared by the OPR. What is the rationale for that significant material change in the legislation? These are submissions on what the OPR is doing and the OPR now has full control over the summary of those submissions as well. A lot can depend on how summaries are done. I have seen them done according to different processes and with different levels of detail over the years. A lot can be captured or missed, depending on how the summary is done. The legislation does not get into the level of detail that a summary will or will not cover, so there is huge discretion. The legislation needs to allow for a worst-case scenario where a summary could be missing key details from the submissions. Under these amendments, the Minister is no longer legally required to consider the submissions, just the summary of them. Will the Minister of State explain the rationale for and significance of that?