Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

It is with deep regret that I raise this issue again, along with my colleague, Deputy Fitzmaurice. We raised it some time ago and were given assurances that work was ongoing on the matter. I then submitted a parliamentary question on it. To say the reply was opaque and less than satisfactory would be putting it mildly. We are talking about a Bill that had passed the Dáil and the Seanad, where some amendments were made, and fell because an election was called in the beginning of 2020. This is basically an Aladdin's lamp Bill. The issue was that the bogs that were degraded and had been cut were being swapped for pristine bogs that would be designated as natural heritage areas, NHAs. Unlike Aladdin's lamp, this really was new for old and there was no genie one had to rub to find the old one was better.

It is hard to understand how it has taken the Department three years to come to this point - or not come to it, which is the issue - and we still have not had sight of a recommitted Bill. Either the amendments from the Seanad were satisfactory or they were not. One would think that if they were not satisfactory, the Government would have gone back to the original Bill passed by Dáil Éireann and recommitted that to the Dáil or introduced a new Bill, the wildlife (amendment) Bill 2022. We need a certain date by which this Bill will be introduced into the Dáil so it can get swift passage through and become law, as was promised before the previous Government was formed back in 2016.

Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I concur with what Deputy Ó Cuív has said. We brought this issue up in the Dáil previously. We had a meeting with Department officials on it and I thank the Minister of State for that. On that day, we were told the Bill was basically going to be brought back or rewritten. There were obstacles but the officials said they had found ways around them and we were going to have it. That was my understanding. It was going to be gone through before the summer recess. I have looked at schedules and maybe I have missed something but I cannot see it there. The Government does not realise the torture this is causing. There are people who want to plant land and cannot because this Bill is held up. There are people who want to build a house and cannot because the very minute a council looks at the application, the area is put down as an NHA and the council walks away. That is what they do. When the forestry service gets something that is in a designated area, it is bye-bye. That is the seriousness of it. With the planting situation at the moment, we have hit 50%. When you have people willing to do things, you need to work with them. I have been involved in all of this down through the years. As Deputy Ó Cuív pointed out, this was not done by ordinary people.

It was ecologists and scientists who went out and checked the different bogs. It is not only bogs. There is one place I know where a person's shed, where the cows are milked, is within it. Those are the facts in County Leitrim, on the border of Roscommon, and it is as fine a field as has ever been seen. It should never have been put in but it was put in and, in fairness, the National Parks and Wildlife Service was going to rectify that. What it did was grade it all, and we were putting away what was not required and was of no use. The service was going to give compensation and so on.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy.

Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

What is happening? Will we have the Bill back before the summer recess in order that these people can be taken out of their misery?

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I apologise to both Deputies because I did not expect to be back here again to discuss this. I thought we would have advanced the Bill but it has been complex. The principal purpose of the Wildlife (Amendment) Bill 2016, as initiated, was to provide for the review of raised bog habitats, the making, amendment and revocation of natural heritage area orders and, for those purposes, the amendment of the Wildlife (Amendment) Act 2000.

As the Deputies will be aware, the Bill was originally presented to Dáil Éireann. There was a very constructive debate on the Bill in both Houses, including in respect of extending its scope to provide for a review of blanket bog natural heritage areas, and later in the Seanad in respect of placing a duty on public bodies to promote the conservation of biodiversity. The Bill had completed all Stages in the Dáil and the Seanad and had been returned to the Dáil for consideration of the various amendments made by the Seanad, for what is colloquially known as the cream list stage, when the Bill lapsed with the dissolution of the Thirty-second Dáil on 14 January 2020.

Standing Order 227 provides that where a Bill passed by the Dáil is subsequently amended and passed by the Seanad, those amendments are then returned to the Dáil for its consideration. Standing Order 228 provides that the Dáil may accept, amend or reject the Seanad amendments. Amendments in the Dáil to the Seanad's amendments may be moved only where they are "consequential upon the acceptance, amendment or rejection of a Seanad amendment". There is no mechanism under Standing Orders to move amendments to a Bill returned to the Dáil under Standing Order 227, other than as set out in Standing Order 228.

As discussed when I met the Deputies in December last, the restoration of the Bill to the Order Paper is not straightforward. Once the complexities have been resolved, however, and the amendments made in the Seanad re-examined in consultation with the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel, OPC, to ensure they have been worded correctly and are legally robust, it is the intention of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to bring a memorandum to the Government to seek approval to have the Bill restored to the Order Paper. At the same time, the Minister will also bring a memorandum to the Government to obtain approval to the amendments made in the Seanad to the Bill. This process is at an advanced stage and is expected to be completed shortly, although I cannot give an accurate date for that. I met officials this morning about the issue to try to get it advanced as quickly as possible. My hope is it will be completed before the summer recess.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Perhaps the Minister of State will confirm whether the Bill will be recommenced in the Dáil or whether there is going to be a new Bill with the same information in it, just to go through the procedure ab initio. It seems to me that if there were this much difficulty with the Standing Orders, the best thing to do would have been to reprint the Bill, title it the wildlife (amendment) Bill 2020 - we had hoped it would be 2020 but the year is now 2022 - and bring it back to the House, with whatever examination of amendments was required. I cannot believe it has taken three years in the system to examine a number of amendments made in the Seanad, which no doubt were well debated there. I accept the point about the wording, which is always an issue.

Nevertheless, when a Bill is going through the Dáil and the Opposition brings in an amendment the Government deems to be a good idea, the normal process that happens every day of the week, with which the Ceann Comhairle will be very familiar, is that the Minister comes back with a properly worded amendment, drafted by the OPC. I find it awfully strange that the OPC could not give the Government a new wording for any amendments, the substance of which it accepted but not the wording. I welcome that the Bill will be back before the summer, if that turns out to be the case, but some day I am going to write a dictionary of terms used in the House such as "shortly". Does that mean one, five or ten years, for example?

Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

There is simple question the people who have been frustrated over the past three or four years and who want to do some good things for our country want to be answered. When I was going to school, "shortly" never meant a defined period of time. The simple question is whether the Minister will go with a memorandum to the Cabinet and whether we will have the Bill, whether that is the old one, a new Bill or some other Bill, before the summer recess in order that we can kick it into gear and get it sorted. That is all we want. We are not unreasonable people. We had the meeting with the Minister of State and we thank him for all that. My understanding on that day, however, especially in light of the way Deputy Ó Cuív explained the matter in his experience, was that there would be a way of getting around it and getting the Bill back. If there is not, that is fine, we can just call it the wildlife (amendment) Bill 2022, away we will go and we will hammer it through.

We cannot keep waiting. Will the Minister of State please confirm whether a memorandum will be brought to the Cabinet and the Bill will be brought before the Dáil before the recess in July?

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

To be helpful, the Bill can be recommitted in the Dáil from the point to which it was dealt with in the Seanad, with the Seanad amendments to be considered.

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

That is exactly it. I acknowledge it is frustrating and it has been complex, and I appreciate the frustration of both the Deputies and the communities they represent. I will endeavour to get a definite date for them both and to give certainty to this. I take on board the points in regard to what "shortly" means. It has been frustrating from our perspective as well. It will not be a new Bill. We are in a separate process of reviewing the Wildlife (Amendment) Act, but that is for another day. It is our intention to get this completed. We appreciate the Deputies' concerns.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Will the Minister of State give us an indication as to how many amendments were made in the Seanad?

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I do not know.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

We will raise this tomorrow at the meeting of the Business Committee and we will do so at each such meeting until we get a date on which it will be returned to the House.

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I would welcome that.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle.

Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle.