Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Last-minute amendments are not the way to deal with legislation but enough has been said on that. Many of my colleagues have brought up the fact that environmental organisations and the likes of Wind Energy Ireland have brought up particular difficulties with the Bill. They have stated this legislation could deal with a slow-up in being able to deliver on renewable energy. Those are issues the Minister will have to address when he replies. There is no one here who would not say An Bord Pleanála is in need of reform and resourcing, but wedding it further to either the Civil Service or the political system is hardly the right direction to take. Deputy Ó Broin and others questioned about how much time will be saved by the suspension of Part 8. Are we getting any time saving? I welcome that we are dealing with the debt issue. I have spoken to the Minister about the Louth local authority's debt and it is a necessity that it can build on land that was bought during the Celtic tiger, under instruction. We also need to make sure it has the capacity to be able to follow through on builds. "Prime Time" detailed the difficulties local authorities and approved housing bodies, AHBs, have, that they sometimes go to turnkeys because there are too many bureaucratic obstacles. We need to make sure they are removed as soon as possible.

See this speech in context