Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

I will oppose this item. I thank the Tánaiste for apologising to the House on behalf of the Government for what has happened and I acknowledge her remarks that there was a 12 hour debate on Second Stage but these amendments were submitted by the Minister after the Second Stage debate had concluded.

We are talking about planning legislation, which is complex at the best of times. The problems have been compounded in that not only do we have a long list of amendments, the debate is being guillotined so they will not be reached and discussed. On top of that, there are no explanatory memoranda to explain what these changes to the planning law amount to. We are changing planning law without being given time to debate it and without the courtesy of explanatory memoranda being circulated so individual Members on all sides know what the changes in the planning law will be. There are 100 pages of these amendments.

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