John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

With the prospect of a reasonably imminent conclusion of the tribunal's public hearings, and conscious that the bulk of its ultimate costs have already been incurred, the focus of the House should be to recognise and respond to the lessons that may be adduced from the experience with this and other recent tribunals. For that reason, the Government's amendment urges the early consideration and enactment of the Tribunals of Inquiry Bill 2005, which is currently at Second Stage in the House.

I am aware of the Opposition suggestion that a provision of this Bill that would empower a Government, with the approval of the Oireachtas, by order to dissolve a tribunal, is intended to apply to the planning tribunal. This is emphatically not the case. In bringing the Bill before the house last November, my colleague the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy Brian Lenihan, was explicit in this regard. He stated clearly:

The purpose of this legislation is not in any way to interfere with the current tribunals. Its purpose is to reassure the public that were the Oireachtas to resolve to establish tribunals in the future, they would perform under a modern code of legislation which regulated their operations.

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