Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Green Party)

They did not represent their people, they represented their paymasters. We need a little bit of regulation and that is what the Minister will do. Deputy Hogan could be Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. I am sure with the new clean politics Fine Gael has developed he will be keeping an eye on bad and dodgy planning decisions when he becomes Minister. He needs guidelines to ensure that democratic principles are adhered to and the people are represented by councillors and not their developer paymasters. That is what has gone wrong. It is a disgrace and that is why this House has been debased over the years.

See this speech in context