Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am a Carlow woman. I am coming in on my own amendment. I am very surprised by the words of Senator Humphreys, who was in Government with Fine Gael for five years. All of a sudden, Fine Gael is not the issue and Fianna Fáil is to blame for this. I tabled this amendment. The Senator can see my name, Senator Murnane O'Connor, under the amendment but he did not clarify that it was in my name. My amendment states, "In page 46, line 28, after “approval” to insert “by vote”." We are not playing politics here. I do not know whether Labour played politics with the Minister of State's Government previously. I guarantee the Minister of State, Fianna Fáil or not, I will call for a vote on this today and I will look for the House's support. The reason I will do so is that I am so disappointed that an announcement was made that on Friday the Government would launch the national planning framework for 2040. My colleagues in Fianna Fáil and I are very disappointed by this because it involves so many years of infrastructure, housing and job creation. This is not party politics. This is about giving people in rural Ireland and the cities the quality of life they deserve. This is why I tabled this amendment calling for a vote. It must go back to the Dáil and the Seanad. I call on the Minister of State not to launch the plan on Friday. Let it come back into the Houses of the Oireachtas so we can vote on it. I hope Senator Humphreys got all that.