Diarmuid Wilson (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I join with Senator Reilly in welcoming the introduction of plain packaging for cigarettes. I again congratulate him on his efforts, along with others, in that regard. I join Senator Conway-Walsh in welcoming the report of the Joint Committee on Justice and Equality regarding wards of court. I hope the Government will implement the recommendations of the report as a matter of urgency, in particular in regard to the Comptroller and Auditor General having oversight of how awards are invested and spent on behalf of wards of court.

When is it proposed to hold a debate on the national development plan? Yesterday the Leader indicated that there would be such a debate but did not indicate when it would occur. I live north of the line from Galway to Dublin, and I do not mean the railway line from Galway to Dublin the closure of which the Minister, Deputy Ross, discussed a couple of weeks ago but, rather, the line north of which all counties were omitted from the draft plan. I am glad that the Government seems to have to some extent listened to the issues raised by my party and others in that regard. However, apart from the announcement of projects that had already been announced approximately half a dozen times without any timescale being put on them, there was no mention of the county from which I come. There was no mention of an extension of the M3, of the bypass of Virginia or of the proposed east-west corridor between Sligo and Dundalk that is vital for the rejuvenation of the area. Whatever Brexit may bring, it will not bring good news to that part of the country which has largely been omitted from the national development plan. I hope that we will have that debate as a matter of urgency.

I welcome and agree with Senator O'Mahony's comments on the Citizens' Assembly. A full evaluation must be conducted of how people were selected for the assembly. We should not have had any such assembly because we already have two assemblies, which are called the Dáil and the Seanad and whose Members are supposed to dictate and implement policy. I would like a review to be carried out as a matter of urgency of how the composition of the Citizens' Assembly was determined.