Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

When former Deputy Dick Spring became Tánaiste, he insisted on a very strong political advisory capacity behind the Government to implement the programme for Government. I agree with the Deputy that it is an important aspect of modern government, and that was an initiative taken by the Labour Party at the time. This is in line with that. We are a three-party coalition. If Deputy Kelly was in government as the leader of the Labour Party, he would demand the exact same accommodation in respect of advisers as the Green Party or the Fine Gael Party currently have. It is completely in line with the Public Service Management Act 1997. The limits are there. This is in accordance with those limits. It is also transparent and public. It is all done under the terms of the Public Service Management Act 1997. The Taoiseach and Tánaiste of the day, and their party leader in Government, may have more than two special advisers. A Minister of State who attends Cabinet may have two special advisers, and the Minister of State who does not attend Cabinet can have one special adviser. All special advisers must be formally appointed by the Government. The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform has published guidelines setting out the arrangements for the staffing of ministerial offices for the Thirty-third Dáil.

On the issue of communications and texts, communications in respect of Government business must be available for freedom of information requests.

Deputy Kelly asked about the planning review. This was done in consultation with the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy O'Brien. He is very keen this would take place. There is a very strong legal dimension to this with regard to the Acts and the laws that have been passed over the years. The need to streamline these from a legal perspective is very important. That is the exercise under way, and I believe it is a worthwhile exercise. Deputy Kelly himself had raised with me some time ago his sense that the An Bord Pleanála structure needed increased capacity. Deputy Kelly had identified to me that An Bord Pleanála was losing cases in the High Court a bit too regularly. That is the context for this review. It is not just about An Bord Pleanála; it is the full gamut of the planning system.

The Minister, ultimately, retains policy primacy in this and he has consulted with the Attorney General and he is satisfied that the Attorney General should lead the legal overhaul and consolidation of the Planning Acts. It is very important that we get this done. It has to come before the House and ultimately the Government has to decide and the Minister has to be satisfied from a policy perspective of any changes that may emerge from this. Obviously, if this is to manifest in legislation, which we hope it will, we will then be able to bring that before the House.

One of the challenges that we have in this country is getting major infrastructural projects through in a timely manner. Deputies will come into the House on a regular basis and will complain about how long the metro, or you name it - a whole range of projects - is taking. Housing is even taking an inordinate length of time to get done. We have an issue in getting projects developed, planned for and provided in a timely manner. In some instances it is taking the best part of a decade to get things done. On the Maritime Area Planning Bill 2021 about which there was a row earlier, one is still looking at years before wind energy projects will actually come on stream. I am very conscious of that delay which is now endemic in how we do infrastructure projects in this country and it is very problematic for our future development.

On Deputy Boyd Barrett's points, one of the big innovations of this Government was to move disability from health as a core responsibility to the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth - it is a long title - to try to give a singular focus to the question of disability. Operationally, the HSE will be involved in the delivery of services but from a policy perspective, there will be one key Department which will have the function of co-ordinating and developing policy and initiatives for people with disabilities. The Deputy has referred to a Down's syndrome child, for example. I would have thought they would have received the domiciliary care allowance and have automatic entitlement now to the medical card and certainly to the GP-----

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