Paul Bradford (Fine Gael)

I welcome the fact the Minister does not appear to oppose the principle of what we are trying to put in place. His suggestion is that it would be more appropriately presented when the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government legislation is produced but our concern is the delay and the time factor. I welcome the words of support from Senator O'Malley because we are all trying to achieve the same target. We are all trying to ensure that blockages and delays are removed. We believe the insertion of this new section in the legislation would be more than an aspirational demand but rather put pressure on all of us and the various Government agencies and Departments, and the Government itself, to respond. Unfortunately, legislation can remain in the pipeline not just for months but for years and, in some cases, decades and if we are to bring about the situation we all desire, we must remove the blockages and the delays. That is the reason this section would put a demand on Government to react rather than simply kick to touch.