Denis Landy (Labour) | Oireachtas source

It has come to my attention that the Courts Service has called for a review of court facilities in County Tipperary to identify, in consultation with stakeholders in the country, a range of options which could be considered to enable the Courts Service to work more efficiently and effectively in maintaining front-line services. I am concerned that this may be code for the possible closure of some court offices in the county. In my town of Carrick-on-Suir, €270,000 was spent in 2007 on renovating the courthouse, and it is now one of the finest in the country. It is extremely busy and it sits twice a week. In Tipperary and Nenagh, there are also very busy courthouses. If efficiencies must be found, I hope they will not equate to the word "closure". The services are very badly needed and we want them to be retained. Will the Leader bring this to the attention of the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Fitzgerald?

I welcome the proposed legislation to restrict cheap alcohol. There are to be warning labels and details of calorie content on all alcohol to be sold, and there will be new and strong powers for environmental health officers to patrol this area. There will also be new restrictions on advertising, marketing and sponsorship.

This issue has been bandied around for a number of years and it has hopped and bopped from one Minister to another but I am pleased that the current Minister for Health has taken it by the scruff of the neck and proposes to publish legislation in this regard. It has been approved by the Cabinet and we will see the colour of the legislation soon.

There is also good news about planning. Yesterday, I attended a meeting of the Joint Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government at which there was a briefing on the planning (no. 2) Bill, which will provide for a planning regulator who will help to implement the Mahon tribunal recommendations. We were all abhorred by the tribunal. For too long there have been "make it up as you go along" breaches of development plans, ignoring national spatial strategies and so on, which helped to cause the havoc that was wreaked on the country in respect of housing. In addition, the fee for making a submission on a planning application will be removed for public representatives. The fee is €20 per submission and we all disagreed with it when it was introduced. That will be removed by the legislation and I welcome that along with the other proposals in the legislation.