Martin Conway (Fine Gael)

I agree with Senator Daly's contention that we need to tighten the process of objecting to planning permissions in the context of who, how and why. There is significant anecdotal evidence that large sums have been paid by those seeking permission to objectors to facilitate and encourage them to withdraw their objections, which is not acceptable. We need to examine how best to ensure that if an objection is made to a planning permission, it is legitimate and is not a rogue objection or somebody trying to make a few quid.

I support the call of previous speakers, including Senator Bacik, for a debate on the Irish Prison Service. Overall, the service is doing a good job but what happened in the case of Martin McDermott was appalling. I have just come from a meeting of the Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality and it was refreshing to hear the director general of the Irish Prison Service, Mr. Michael Donnellan, putting his hands up without making excuses or trying to spin what happened. He made a plain apology. His staff know they were wrong and they are putting procedures in place to ensure they do not get it wrong again. It was a sad day for An Garda Síochána when a prisoner convicted of the manslaughter of a member of the force was able to escape in this manner. Thankfully, procedures will be in place to ensure this will not happen again, which is welcome. I also asked the director general during the meeting how many other prisoners-----