Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)

I thank all 64 Deputies who spoke on this Bill. This has been one of the longest debates in this Dáil and it has been intriguing and interesting. A number of Deputies believed in my admonition on waste recycling because much of this debate was recycled.

We all recognise, however, the significance of this legislation. Deputy O'Dowd made the point, and I agree with him, that this is one of the most significant Bills in the lifetime of this Dáil. There can be no doubt that it will have implications in terms of infrastructural development.

There has been debate about whether we are moving in the right direction and I sincerely believe we are. There have been a number of outrageous abuses of the planning processes that have delayed vital infrastructure because of the relative ease of access to our courts. Many Deputies said that we are a First World country with Third World infrastructure. That is a clever but untruthful assertion. We are a first world country and we should have a first world infrastructure with the sort of planning process and public administration system that is capable of meeting the challenges of rolling out first class infrastructure.

Deficiencies in the process have been highlighted by the sheer pressure on the administrative and planning systems given the volumes of money this Government is willing to invest in resources, especially the development of infrastructure. Deputy Perry, in what can best be regarded as a tangential contribution on the Bill, made great play of issues in his constituency. He recognised, however, the astronomical amounts of money we will spend in the next few years in areas such as public transport and the pressures that arise as a result.

The Bill merits close attention from all sides and I have listened carefully to the debate. The Bill is a well balanced response to a challenging situation, an attempt to take competing demands and deal with them in a manner whereby we can make progress without trespassing on areas we regarded as important in the past.

Within the democratic process we should allow people the right to object and to express opinions which are clearly inaccurate or baseless, but I do not agree with Deputy Gogarty's contention that we should allow that irrespective of the cost. We are all stewards of the public purse. It is the job of the Oireachtas to ensure we get value for money. The idea that a resident of another country should have the right to object to any planning issue in any forum at any cost is fundamentally wrong. That demonstrates a difference between the practical Members of this House who want to see progress and the Members who could not give a toss about progress, public welfare or the public purse.

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