Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is outlining a long-term plan and the actions that will take place. That is welcome and will protect many of the sites. The problem is that many of the sites may be gone by the time that long-term plan is in place. At the moment, every county is renewing its county development plan. Now is the time for the Minister and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to intervene. Obviously, the local authorities are independent in their actions, which is fair enough, but a letter from a Government Minister to the chief executive of the local authority, which would be put on record in the renewal of the county development plan, would carry a lot of weight and would put an onus on local authorities to identify the sites within their functional areas which could be earmarked and protected in the interim while the long-term work is being done. While this work needs to be done, there is a danger that many of these sites could be gone by the time the legislation is put in place. It is not fair to expect families to protect these sites and to keep an eye on them.

See this speech in context