Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

One becomes slightly suspicious when that happens. I would not say that the archaeological heritage is less precious than other heritage but they manage to build roads without this happening. My concern is that the Minister will make no decisions, because the legislation states that he may at his discretion make a direction as to how to proceed. The timeframe is too open-ended. The Minister may not have noticed it but he is not compelled to give a direction and there is no time limit on his decision. However, there are time limits for other people, for instance, the National Museum and An Bord Pleanála must make their direction within a certain time.

There are situations in which Governments do not make decisions in the run-up to an election. I am not suggesting this is the case with the Minister. If we are concerned to speed up the roll-out of our infrastructure a time limit should be imposed on the Minister compelling him or her to make a decision within a certain timeframe. I am not suggesting what that should be but there should be some limit on his or her decision. The Minister might consider that by way of an amendment.

The Bill could also be improved in section 5 where An Bord Pleanála has discretion to permit changes to the approved road scheme where there is no major environmental impact. I have already welcomed this provision because it gives a flexibility which is not there at the moment to find, in some cases, practical and timely solutions if a minor redesign or relocation is the solution. However, as the Minister is aware, if a specific piece of land, no matter how small, is required for road-building purposes, for example, if a change in the design is outside what is permitted within the CPO schedule, it cannot be purchased no matter how desirable it is by either the NRA or the local authorities. Will the Minister explore the potential for flexibility in the CPO mechanism similar to that being introduced in the EIS process because if there is no flexibility to move outside the terms of the original CPO schedule, it will negate the value of having flexibility to change the scheme slightly? It is not a matter of going outside the EIS but also going outside the CPO mechanism.

See this speech in context