Victor Boyhan demands release of 900 consultation submissions
Victor Boyhan addressed the chamber today to renew his call for the Minister to release the anonymized public consultation submissions on the exempt development regulations. He warned that senators will debate the regulations tomorrow without access to the 900 submissions, and confirmed he has lodged FOIs after failing to secure release.
Exempt development submissions
Victor Boyhan says the exempt development regulations have gone through a process, but he describes it as a mockery while the content of over 900 public submissions remains unavailable. He confirms engagement with the department and that he filed a number of FOI requests which the department has acknowledged.
Education briefing on planning and building
The speaker thanks the Minister for Education for arranging a formal briefing on the planning and building unit and the overview for 2026 into 2027. He frames the briefing as an important opportunity for members given the central role of school building programmes in parliamentary work.
IFA engagement and Budget 2027
Victor Boyhan also commends the IFA for holding an engagement session at the Mansion House on Budget 2027. He notes members have received a copy of the IFA submission and encourages colleagues to meet the organisation this afternoon to discuss their proposals for agriculture and the upcoming budget.
Process and parliamentary consequence
He underlines the practical consequence that when the Seanad debates the regulations tomorrow senators will not have sight of the substance, geographical spread or anonymized content of constituent submissions. The description summarises the address and the procedural questions it raises about public consultation and parliamentary scrutiny.
We publish thousands of recordings to make Irish politics transparent and resistant to manipulation. Spotted an error? Report it — together we are building a reliable archive of Irish politics.
Thank you Comhairleach. Well firstly I'm pleased to see Senator Byrne in the chair, in the leader's chair and I wish you well in that job and again just wish you well in your new position as a government whip. Three items I want to discuss here today. The first is the exempt development which has been covered extensively in the media. We know that the committee met last night to discuss the exempt development regulations. We know that it is before the Dáil today. We expect it'll be before the Seanad tomorrow and I suppose just to make one thing, there's much talk about the exempt development regulations and look they've gone through a process whatever issues you or I or anyone has about them but what I want to renew today Leader is a call for the Minister to release the 900 public consultation submissions to the exempt development public consultation process. It makes a mockery of a public consultation process when we know from the department because I've been engaging with them and indeed the Minister that there are over 900 submissions to this consultation process. So no member of parliamentarian will have had the opportunity to consider the anonymized version of these consultations. There are many many good suggestions for, there are concerns against but it is a mockery because nobody can see the content, not the names, not the individuals, not the geographical spread. So I yet again call on the Minister to release. He's no stranger to this because I've been engaging with him and he's fully aware of it and I can confirm that I last week as I wasn't getting progress I put in a number of FOIs and I've had confirmation from the department they have received all of them. So it'll come through that process the Minister decides maybe tomorrow when it's all done. So when the senators are here discussing this tomorrow you will have no sight of any constituent of yours that made a submission. That's one. Two I want to thank the Minister for Education for organizing a formal briefing today on the planning and building unit and the overview for 2026 into 2027. I think it's an important opportunity for a lot of us members to attend today given that schools and the building program is a regular occurrence and finally I'd like to commend the IFA who are this afternoon in the Mansion House carrying out an engagement process for a lot of us members in relation to Budget 2027 and I think that's an important process and I did say to them last night I would flag it here everyone would have received a copy of their submission and hopefully many of us will meet each other in the Mansion House this afternoon when we're discussing with the IFA very critical suggestions, that's all they are, their suggestions, their proposals for agriculture and the budget for 2027. Thank you.
Thank you for downloading 🙏
If you publish this material on social media, we would be very grateful if you tagged VideoParliament. It helps us reach more people and keep building a transparent archive of Irish politics.
