Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)

The excuse that nothing had been done is completely refuted by the freedom of information material which my party has uncovered. It was a lazy excuse by a Government looking to cover up its own efforts to avoid the issue and to kick it to touch. This is disappointing. The matters dealt with by the inquiries were spurious, as the Minister, Deputy Hogan, put it at the time. Deputy Joanna Tuffy was the environment spokesperson for the Labour Party and she stated it was unclear what Mr. Gormley had hoped to achieve by carrying out the review of planning policy in the six councils. Taking into consideration the matters involved it is clear what an independent review hoped to achieve. The results of poor planning decisions are visible across the country in ghost estates and flood plains. I say this in the acceptance that much of this is not associated with the Minister of State's party but rather is a combination of a whole series of mishaps across the political process. It is a fact that Fianna Fáil has not controlled too many local authorities over the past 20 years and certainly over the past 15 years, when many of the decisions were taken.

See this speech in context