Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I apologise. I will skip over that. Since we are only seeing these groups at short notice, we have to anticipate.

I will move to amendment No. 13. In effect, this set of amendments addresses the flexibility piece. The Minister of State talked about losing a case and, as there are now limitations on the flexibility we can have, we need to change the law again. It is part of a very worrying dynamic, namely, if we are found to be in breach of the law, then we change the law. That is what we see again and again. That is not an appropriate relationship. This is relevant to judicial reviews that An Bord Pleanála loses consistently because it is found not to have applied the process and the law properly. Rather than address that, we are trying to make judicial reviews more difficult. I will come to that in the next group of amendments.

Similarly, it has been found that the State has been excessive in its flexibility and needs to be more constrained in the flexibilities it affords, but the State's response is that it will change the rules again and will pass new laws to let it do whatever it would like to do. The case has not been made in respect of large-scale residential developments, issues relating to ordinary planning permission and maritime areas and infrastructure that there are better and more effective ways to address the issue at hand.