Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I would like to follow on on that theme. Every six months we deal with this motion and have been told today that the initiative is part of business support. I feel sorry for the Minister of State. He is standing up here and trying to say something different but it is pretty difficult to do that. We know this is a temporary provision and none of us will oppose it, but neither do we find it satisfactory. We can pick holes in how the law is functioning.

In the closing remarks on the last debate on a similar motion, we were told it is challenging to draft permanent legislation and while a piece could be done on this alone, the Government wanted to do a bit more on alcohol legislation. Deputy Howlin referred to stand-alone legislation. We were told that could not be done in time. We were then told that the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, expects to have that legislation in February next year. We were told that last November. The Minister of State knows that we cannot keep doing this.

We also have to consider a timeline. We could run into a serious problem if, for example, we did not have this legislation and there was a general election followed by a protracted period to form a Government. We would see a significant gap not covered by law. I do not find that acceptable.

I can keep going back over the same points I have made repeatedly. I refer to planning issues. Every time I have spoken about this, I have said that this works perfectly well in some locations but in others it does not. For example, because this measure was of an emergency nature, there was not much thought for people with disabilities. I have walked around areas with people with disabilities to get a sense of what they see and encounter. Things like sandwich boards and obstructions are not just an inconvenience; people can do serious damage to themselves. I have seen a person who has done awful damage to their legs due to a visual impairment and constantly bumping into things. We are either serious about this or not. We have made good progress in planning law relating to people with disabilities, but we then put significant impediments in their way without considering whether a location is appropriate or appropriate consideration has been given to people who are confronted with an obstacle.

We spend a lot of money on shopfronts. Local authorities give grants to have nice streetscapes and shopfronts, and we then obscure them, in some locations very inappropriately. We start to wonder whether that is counterproductive. Advertisers are taking commercial advantage of some of these structures, some of which can be quite ugly. I do not think that would be permitted if people had to get planning permission and there was a regime around what people can and cannot do.

I do not think I need to tell the Minister of State that this is not satisfactory. It is more than unsatisfactory. If we do not have this legislation in place, I ask him to give us something more permanent than motions.

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