Gerry Horkan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Leader for scheduling an interesting and useful debate last night on the benefits and future of the European Union. It is a pity more speakers did not take part. I thank the Minister of State, Deputy McEntee, for being here.

I also support the comments of Senators Boyhan, Bacik, Wilson, and others, regarding the Judicial Council Bill 2017. The point I was making to Senator Bacik was that we have much experience here at this stage on that particular topic because of the Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017. Where better, therefore, to start that Bill than here?

I also want to query when the Parental Leave (Amendment) Bill 2017 will come back to the House. The Minister had said he would bring it back.

I also congratulate the Youthreach programme on its 30 years and Senator Wilson for all of his efforts in that regard.

I was going to talk about no smoking because it is Ash Wednesday but I will do that next week. I turn instead to the fact that we need a debate about the national planning system. I am not sure the way we do planning is working for people applying for or objecting to planning permission, or for interested parties generally. It is an antiquated system that has been built up over many years. Planning seems to be done more efficiently in other countries and for the benefit of everybody, much more so than here. I do not blame planners at all. They are often hamstrung by the rules and regulations in place. Local authorities and councillors also have a reserved function regarding development plans, which is correct. The development plan, however, is devised every six years and the planners are then bound by that, which is also correct. The process of applying and appealing, however, needs to be the subject of a debate. I am not just referring to critical infrastructure, such as the Apple data centre in Athenry, but on how we build, or do not build, generally. We have a crisis in residential supply in our major cities and throughout the country. We need to get building while also taking people's objections into account. I ask the Leader to schedule time for a debate with the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, to deal with this topic.