Last week, Environment minister Noel Dempsey published the Dublin government's new Planning and Development Bill. This new bill is set to supecede 13 separate pieces of existing legislation in an attempt to rationalise planning procedures in the 26 Counties. Free article

Democracy in Europe returned from its summer holidays this week. The MEPs elected to the European Parliament last June have gone back to work. First up on the order of business is a brief encounter with actually exercising their power. Free article