Social Democrats Co-Leader Catherine Murphy has said the process leading up to the pending announcement later this week of the National Development Plan is fundamentally undemocratic and she called out Fianna F\u00e1il for what she described as their attempts to straddle both sides of the fence on this issue.<\/p>\n
Deputy Murphy said that politicians from across the political spectrum had made submissions to the draft Capital Plan when it was first unveiled and yet the Government are now about to formally launch the final plan without any consultation about what, if any, elements of those submissions have been taken on-board or incorporated into the final plan. She said the Government were effectively saying \u2019trust us on this\u2019 and this is not good enough.\u00a0 Meanwhile Fianna F\u00e1il is participating in the ludicrous \u2018Coalition Against the National Planning Framework whilst simultaneously refusing to use their position of power in the partnership Government, to stop the launch going ahead.<\/p>\n
Speaking this afternoon Catherine Murphy said:<\/p>\n
\u201cWhilst I cautiously welcome the fact that it appears the plan is predominantly focused on developing the major urban centres which can then be facilitated to act as sustainable regional drivers, I cannot take the Taoiseach at his word when he told the D\u00e1il today that his Government have \u2018had regard\u2019 to the many submissions made to the plan. I would like to see the revised version of the plan so the Oireachtas can see exactly what is planned and how it is proposed to deliver it. The D\u00e1il should have a chance to discuss this before it is presented as a fait accompli at a bells and whistles PR stunt on Friday.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFianna F\u00e1il, by virtue of their position in this Partnership Government, has the power to ensure the democratic process is respected in this regard. It is farcical that they have one of their most high-profile TDs participating on the coalition to oppose the basis of Development Plan in what can only be described as a stunt to try and appeal to their rural voters, while at the same time sitting on their hands in the D\u00e1il and allowing Fine Gael to do what they want with both the actual substance of the plan and the process by which it is delivered.\u201d<\/p>\n
14th February 2018<\/p>\n
ENDS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Social Democrats Co-Leader Catherine Murphy has said the process leading up to the pending announcement later this week of the National Development Plan is fundamentally undemocratic and she called out Fianna F\u00e1il for what she described as their attempts to straddle both sides of the fence on this issue. Deputy Murphy said that politicians from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":369,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[182,8,7],"tags":[145,52,116,17],"class_list":["post-415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-catherine-murphy","category-latest-news","category-press-release","tag-catherine-murphy-td","tag-fianna-fail","tag-fine-gael","tag-social-democrats"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n