Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

There was extensive consideration on Committee Stage, that is absolutely right, and I commend Deputy Matthews on steering the debate there with such patience and good will. However, there was not ample time in this Chamber to debate it on Report Stage, and that it is the point. More than 800 amendments were tabled on Report Stage and I think we were at about amendment No. 200-and-something when the Bill was guillotined last Wednesday night. None of my amendments were reached. Among the amendments the Labour Party put forward was one to criminalise abuse of the planning process, an amendment we were glad to see the Minister accept. However, with regard to the Minister's own amendment, which was effectively seeking to do the same thing, we had substantive points to raise. That is a really important provision. That provision alone was a criminal provision in a Bill, which had not been before the House.

It had not been before the committee at an earlier Stage. It was something which we in the Labour Party had initiated and which we did not have the chance to debate in this House. That is quite a serious matter.

As for the Aarhus Convention matter, of course we will be ventilating these matters through our Labour Party Senators, as will others, but it is simply not good enough for a Bill of this import to be rushed through at such speed, given those two significant issues, which were incapable of being debated in this House.

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