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

-----but in that case it would be very difficult. It would assume a lot of the responsibilities of planners. That is the job of the planning departments and planners whose profession it is. We are politicians and legislators who make decisions on documents and so on. We would not be in a position here to do all that planning detail of a national plan that needs to be passed through the Houses. That would not be the correct way to achieve a plan for the State.

The second point is there would be a danger of massive delays on a plan if it had to come to the Houses of the Oireachtas for final approval. The Senator can check the record as this is what I said. For example, if we did that seven years ago with the Action Plan for Jobs we would never have got that plan through. There would be potential for everybody to feel the need to add to it and change it, change a line or put a word in and so on. That would not give us good planning.That is what I said and that is what I stand over. Here, Senators are voting on a process to achieve a national plan.