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

To be fair, in any of my dealings with him on any legislation, Deputy Nash has always endeavoured to be, and always has been, constructive. I will not accept the amendment, however, and I will explain why.

First, it is very broad. The amendment proposes that "Each amendment to the Act of 2000 effected by this Act shall continue in operation for 18 months". As I said earlier, I do not want a cliff edge either. We will bring forward the open competition, for example, which I firmly believe will be a much better, a more transparent and a fairer way that will not exclude people from applying. As we have already discussed, going back to section 6, I have amendments to this Bill that I will bring forward when we are further on. By accepting amendment No. 2, I would be accepting a sunset clause on any changes that are brought in that pertain to the 2000 Act.

The point made by Deputy Nash on the consolidated planning Bill is actually very relevant. The single biggest reform and overhaul of planning law for what some would say is 23 years but others would say is longer than that, going back to the 1950s, is coming forward in the consolidated planning Bill. That proposed Bill received Cabinet approval just yesterday.

I want to assure the Deputy and the House that that Bill is a significant one; basically five years of work was done on it in 15 months. That was led by the Attorney General who worked directly with my officials and an outside expert group that has looked at all the different areas, including cost, planning, timelines and all the things we want. Most of us here want an efficient and effective planning system that serves our people, and I accept that Deputy Nash wants that as well. We want to make sure we can deliver the infrastructure and homes we need. Nobody who has spoken in the debate, either on Second Stage or so far on Committee Stage, has said that the planning system and the legislation that underpins it are fit for purpose for a modern-day Ireland and the development we need to do. That is not just in Housing for All but in the delivery of the national development plan and all the other different strategic and community infrastructure we need.

That Bill will be published on or about 9 January and it will go for pre-legislative scrutiny. A significant amount of work will be involved in that and that will bring forward further reforms, particularly in the structure and governance of the board, including how its staffing is governed and the corporate governance of what will then be an coimisiún pleanála. The make-up of the commissioners, the new role of the chief executive and all of those various things will be included in that Bill. This Bill should not be looked at in isolation from the other Bill that is coming forward and I know the Deputy is not doing that.

For those reasons I will not be accepting the addition of a sunset clause as brought forward in the Deputy’s amendment. I appreciate the remarks the Deputy has made and the reasoning for the amendment. However, it would be too far restrictive with the other changes we are making, including in Government amendments that will be brought forward on this Stage.

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