Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

To be clear, because I referred to architects. I am not saying that we cannot do this because of problems with that. There is a precedent set so we can do this, but a procedure was followed there. It was not simply a matter of tabling an amendment; we must flesh out our proposals more.

If the Senator proposes to table an amendment on Report Stage or to introduce a Bill, that is fine but that those who are interested in doing so need to engage with the officials from the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government and flesh it out. It is not teased out enough. I totally agree with Senator Reilly that it is fixable but we have to have detailed conversations and consultations. Let me be very clear, it is not that I am against accepting the amendment but I cannot accept amendments in isolation. It is not appropriate timing, because we need to do more work around it. We had engaged in that process but it has not been completed. More Members could be involved in that process and we could finish it out, however there is a bit of work involved.

There is no problem with introducing a Bill, but it would be better for those involved to engage with the Department in trying to initiate a Bill in a logical manner and achieve a result.