Michael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)

I cannot give a definite date, but I expect the draft regional development guidelines to be published in the first half of the new year, and perhaps earlier. There will be a public consultation process.

The Senator referred to the Government, but I was referring to the national spatial strategy when I referred to the linchpin. In the planning process, it is practical to adhere to strategic decisions by the Government. Local authority plans receive many inputs that are no one else's business as long as the regional planning guidelines implement Government policy. The consultation process will occur. Every local authority will hold a meeting or several meetings to discuss the draft guidelines, and rightly so, as this will be where consultation occurs. I assure the House that these measures will be introduced early in the new year and that there will be a public consultation process.