Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We discussed this at length and my colleague has put forward the logic and rationale behind it. We have moved on quite a lot of this and we have taken the Minister and the Government at their word on certain elements. We have tried to work on this in a constructive way. I grant that the Minister has accepted a number of amendments and brought forward significant changes to the Bill. However, on the amendments, the language is very important. It is particularly important because we are left with a competent authority based on the Government's advice which is in my view imperfect. However, we have to work with it. As such, we have to improve how the legislation around that operates and governs matters. It is imperative that the changes here regarding "authorised" and "lead-in time" are actually made. If there were some slight change to that or specific areas in the Bill where that caused a problem, I suggest it is open to the Government to propose any change in the Seanad. We went through this at length on Committee Stage and we have gone through it again on Report Stage. It makes eminent sense to do it. It will reinforce the balanced approach. It balances the needs of residents with the future growth of the airport.

See this speech in context