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Senator Mark Daly:  I support Senator Bradford’s comments. During the week, judges stated that they had no problem in getting convictions or people to testify in the courts and that they could not see a necessity for the Bill. However, these cases must appear in the courts in the first place and the Garda finds getting people to testify difficult. Convictions are possible when people testify, but the Garda cannot get them into the courts. As is evident from cases in Limerick, families have been murdered as a result of helping the State get convictions.

An emergency press conference was called today by the civil liberties organisations. I did not see them having any emergency press conferences when there were murders in Limerick on the word of criminals. Last Monday, the headline in the Irish Independent told of how eight year olds were being used by criminals to fire-bomb and threaten people in Limerick. When the Government took action on Wednesday, it was castigated. How does one tackle the problem of eight year olds? We are trying to tackle the instructions and those who are getting those eight year olds to do their bidding. On the word of a garda, such people can be convicted. There will be no convictions without this provision and those people will be unaffected.

I commend the Government and the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Gormley, on the proposed planning and development Bill, a new section in which addresses the issue of people who are in financial difficulties and have received planning permission, which can be a difficult process lasting two or three years. Where, for example, they cannot get mortgages or loans from banks or one of the spouses involved might have lost his or her job, a provision in the Bill will allow them to apply to their local authorities to get their time periods extended by up to five years without needing to go through the planning process again. It is a great sign of common sense in the Government that, in these difficult times, it will not force people to undertake the entire planning process or incur costs or hardships. I look forward to the Bill appearing before the House and I commend the Minister on his efforts. By the way, the Valentia cumann came up with the idea. Just to let the House know, the boys in Valentia are coming up with great ideas all the time.