Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

That is great because we have been asking for an answer to that question for months, and not just on the generalities.

Regarding the planning delays to which the Minister referred, let us be very clear about this. We are all opposed to planning delays in the system. Unfortunately, the biggest delays that have occurred in our planning system in recent years, with the backlogs in An Bord Pleanála, were a direct result of the Minister’s decision not to appoint members to the board of An Bord Pleanála. That created a very significant backlog in An Bord Pleanála. No one asked the Minister not to appoint people to the board but he whittled it down to such a low number that it created a very substantial backlog that An Bord Pleanála has been working very hard to get through ever since. Why was such a backlog created? There are huge costs associated with those delays created by not appointing members to An Bord Pleanála. It created huge costs for us as a society in terms of delays in critical housing applications and infrastructure.

With regard to the issues around LNG, quite an incredible statement was made today by a spokesperson from the Government who stated that any such facility would not include fracked gas and would not be a commercial plant. There is nothing in the amendments the Minister is bringing forward that gives any sort of guarantees or protections to ensure any such facility would not include fracked gas or be commercial or permanent. It is fine for commentary to be made that this will not happen and so forth, but the legislation in front of us contains absolutely no protections, regulations or obligations whatsoever in that regard.

See this speech in context