Paddy Burke (Fine Gael)

Listening to Senator Harris was interesting. A few Ministers have left their mark during the century since this State was formed, such as Donogh O'Malley in respect of education. A neighbour of mine, former Deputy Joseph Blowick, was leader of Clann na Talmhan and the Minister for Lands. He set up the forestry system despite only having national school education. In those times, Ministers were in charge, but the free education introduced by Donogh O'Malley has led to Departments and the Civil Service running the country. This is a part of our current problem.

I raised with the Leader the issue of regional planning guidelines. Will he arrange for a debate in the House? Since those involved in putting regional planning guidelines together are the electorate of the majority of Senators, holding a debate on the matter would be important. It affects county development plans and regional authorities. The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government is very much in favour of the latter and they will have a significant effect on local authorities, particularly in terms of how their county development plans will be varied after the regional plans are agreed. I ask for an urgent debate on this issue.