Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)

-----in the councils of Dublin, Cork city, Carlow, County Cork, Galway and Donegal. I refer to the perception created by the bundling of the announcement with other announcements. The other reports related to the amalgamation of Limerick County Council and Limerick City Council and Tipperary North County Council and Tipperary South County Council. The effect of the decision to abandon independent inquiries was overshadowed by the shift in local government structures but the impact was no less profound. It reminds me of one the spin doctors associated with the Clinton era. In his memoirs, he said the policy of the Clinton White House was to put out bad news on Thursday. They packaged all the rubbish together and hoped it would get lost. For a process as fundamental and important to the State as the planning process, and one that is totally debased, it was a poor decision by the Government and the Minister to try to camouflage what appears to be putting to one side thorough investigations into irregularities identified over a period of time. It was a cynical move by what - it could be argued - is a cynical Government to bury a story it did not want to emerge.

Once again, the Government replicated its tactics with the cynical ploy to spare the backbenchers the embarrassment of exposing hollow promises on cleaning up politics. The report appears to be rushed. I ask the Minister of State to help me.

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