Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I rise today to object to the Order of Business and to signal my opposition to the proposal in the motion providing for a guillotining of the Planning and Development Bill 2023. The Civil Engagement Group will also be proposing an amendment to this motion to remove the guillotine and, instead, provide that the Bill be adjourned on Wednesday.

It is important to say that when we look at the schedule, we can see that it is an extraordinary, not family-friendly and intensive one. For example, we have a 12-hour sitting scheduled for tomorrow. We must also remember that this is a rushed schedule on a Bill that is not emergency legislation and will have to be continued in the autumn anyway. As a legislator, I am uncomfortable with how I am being asked to perform my role in a way that is rushed and truncated. This is legislation that had three months of debate in the other House and will have three days of consideration on Committee Stage in this House.

Equally, many of the significant issues concerning this Bill will not get aired in the time available. Several weeks ago, all the Opposition leaders and Whips wrote to the Leader to ask that this legislation would be adjourned rather than guillotined but the Government has not listened. It is also worth remembering the significant issues with this Bill in terms of Ireland's compliance with its international law obligations under the Aarhus Convention. These are not mere technical issues. These are issues in a context where we have been told by the Aarhus committee, which is charged with this responsibility, that the Bill is not compliant. We are being asked to pass legislation that is not compliant on Committee Stage with the idea being it might be fixed on Report Stage.

Again, this is a Government that put forward proposals that it believed fixed this legislation in the past but which did not fix it. This is why I am suggesting that the Government could stand to benefit from having a proper Committee Stage debate where the issues in this regard can be identified. Issues like those flagged and ignored in the Dáil could be flagged and remedied on Committee Stage and this could allow for the outcome of the process to be proper and appropriate legislation. This legislation is going to be one of the pillars of democracy in this State in respect of determining planning decisions and how they will be made in future.

As I said, we will be objecting to the Order of Business. We are proposing an amendment to the proposed Order of Business. We are also objecting to the provision in the motion for a guillotining of the Bill and we are proposing an amendment to the motion to remove this provision.