Vol. 106 No. 8
I move:
That the period for reporting back of the Joint Committee on Building Land be extended to 30 June 1985.
If the House wants a reason for this I can give it, I am not sure if I am allowed to reply to a discussion on this motion. If there are any questions put do I have a right to answer?
I want the motion seconded.
I second it.
The Senator can reply.
As a member of the committee I would like to support Senator Ferris. This is a very hardworking committee. We have met 49 times since it was set up in March 1983. All the members have worked very hard under the chairmanship of Deputy Molloy and the vice-chairmanship of Senator Ferris. We are very fortunate to have Mr. Jennings from An Foras Forbartha as a technical consultant, and a very industrious secretary. This is a very important committee. The work we are doing is a once off item. It is not an ongoing thing like the Women's Rights. It is very important and it will be a landmark in this area. It will, perhaps, be more important than the Kenny report. I support Senator Ferris in this motion.
I want to thank the House for agreeing to this deferment. We would have preferred if we had completed our work because, as Senator Fitzsimons says, it is a major committee and the subject matter is a major one. There have been many excellent contributions at it. Senator Brendan Ryan has made a major contribution to it. It is sincerely hoped that the work will be completed in time or even before the reporting back date that we are now asking the House to extend to. I will not say anything further on it. We are at the moment examining a first draft of the final report. We are that close to completing the work. Our terms of reference run out at 31 December and it would be unfair to be expected to be finished before then. I want to thank the Senators for their assistance. I assure them that we will have a report back as quickly as possible.
I thank the Senator.
