Mary White (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)

I am happy to support amendment No. l moved by my colleague, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Gormley, in the House last night. The motion is consistent with the support the Green Party has always shown for the tribunal of inquiry into planning matters, from 7 October 1997 to this day.

The tribunal of inquiry is a necessary legal mechanism to investigate the barrage of strange, unjustifiable and bad planning decisions in Dublin and beyond which have afflicted the development of this country. Political decisions, influenced by the interests of a small cabal of property owners and developers, often resulted in frenzies of rezoning which have set back parts of Ireland by decades. In order to have confidence in the planning system, the truths about the lack of planning in the past must be systematically and judiciously unearthed.

This debate should also serve as a reminder of the need to prevent the incidents we now know about from happening again. The Minister, Deputy Gormley, will deliver on his promise to reform local government so that the public will have confidence in planning. I trust all parties will support such reforms aimed at bringing transparency and responsiveness to local government.

As for the Opposition, which has so energetically talked about this debate throughout the whole Christmas recess, I categorically reject the Leader of the Opposition's claims of absent Green Party Members and roll-overs. We were in the House last night for the debate; my colleague, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Gormley, has presented the House with a motion of unconditional support for the tribunal. If this debate is not just a cheap political stunt, then the Fine Gael Party and the Labour Party should now put their voting intentions where their mouths are and support the Government motion.

They have confidence in the tribunal, as the motion states; they accept the rulings of the Supreme Court in regard to the tribunal, as the motion states; they urge the tribunal to continue its work speedily, as the motion states; and they support future tribunals enjoying the confidence of the public, as the motion states. They were the ones who initiated this debate about investigating planning matters so they should welcome this discussion and, although some Opposition Members may have known about imminent tribunal leaks and did nothing about it, the Opposition ought to condemn legal leaks and breaches of confidentiality and defend the right to confidentiality of citizens in correspondence with the tribunal. There is nothing in the Government motion they cannot accept.

As for the Labour Party, its Deputies should take note of what its current leader said in the House during the debate on establishing the tribunal in October 1997: "The political arena is not the place to judge anyone's guilt or innocence, as those words are not the currency of politics." Let them support the motion, let the tribunal get on with its work and let us get on with the work we were elected to do.

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