Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)

Fine Gael argued that we could tighten up this period. I am not sure if we could but it was interesting that both Deputies took a diverse view on this. The Bill allows this timescale to be achieved, which is not possible in the majority of cases at the moment. The majority of infrastructural projects cannot proceed through the planning process in six months. Deputy O'Dowd and Fine Gael Senators argued that it would be good if this timescale could be tightened up and some weeks shaved off it. I do not believe this is possible but we will no doubt discuss it in detail on Committee Stage.

It was also suggested by Labour Party Deputies that the Bill represented a radical alteration of the role and function of An Bord Pleanála, which is simply untrue. An Bord Pleanála has been making these types of decisions since the 2000 Act was introduced. It assumed the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government's role in approving local authority developments. This direct access has been available since then. The Bill will extend this access to other pieces of key infrastructure. To be fair, I do not believe there has been any protracted or detailed analysis to suggest that the procedures which have operated in the local authority cases since 2000 have produced unfair or negative responses.

Deputy Gilmore quoted extensively but selectively from a report produced by the Institute of Engineers of Ireland, IEI. He omitted one or two telling details. For example, pages 13 and 26 of the report called for the Bill to be enacted as a matter of urgency. The report suggested that the establishment of a single planning authority to deal with strategic infrastructure would be a positive step and called for the involvement of developers or contractors at the earliest possible stage in the planning process. In its March submission to the Department of Finance on the national development programme, the IEI welcomed the Bill as published and called for its urgent enactment. I am sure Deputy Gilmore read the IEI report as carefully as I did so it simply shows that the old adage that the devil can quote scripture as selectively as he or she wishes is true. As a fan of the IEI, I am sure Deputy Gilmore will now support getting the Bill through the Houses of the Oireachtas as quickly as possible, which the IEI recommended.

Another point raised was the meaning of strategic infrastructure. I already mentioned that matters like speculative development are not included in this Bill. It has been suggested that any number of developments could be included in the strategic consent process and people called for eligibility on that. The Bill is very specific in respect of what types of projects are included and gives a right to An Bord Pleanála to decide whether a project is in or out of the process.

A number of Deputies complained about extensions from telecommunications masts. I will not be overtly partisan and point out what took place in these areas before but we should remember that another Government introduced legislation that dealt with telecommunications masts and the roll-out of telecommunications. Sin lá eile. It was proposed to amend or remove the exemption of such developments on Committee Stage. There is no such general exemption for telecommunications masts, so the most charitable interpretation is that this argument appears to arise from a misreading of the legislation.

A number of Deputies suggested that changes should be made in the courts structure. Deputies should know that we cannot make such changes in the courts structure in this Bill. Every Deputy made a very good point about judicial review. I concede that Labour Party Deputies made a very significant point when they mentioned queries about judicial review being ex parte or on notice, which I will examine. They pointed out that some ambiguities could be used to delay it.

I agree with a number of Deputies who argued that community gain is valuable and substantial. A point which was repeatedly made was whether the Bill encompasses the building of nuclear power stations. I am glad Deputy Morgan is here to listen to me address this point. He can rest assured that it does not.

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