Paudie Coffey (Fine Gael)

As I said, it is unacceptable that statutory development plans and regional guidelines should have to be compliant with what are non-statutory documents such as the national development plan and the national spatial strategy. These documents are prepared without public consultation or democratic approval and can be amended at the whim of the Minister. That is my fundamental difficulty with the legislation. We acknowledge that the current national spatial strategy includes a good number of positive and sustainable planning directions, but its contents can be changed by the Minister or his successors. That is why we are opposed to this part of the Bill.