Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Has Dr. McQuinn any comment on the planning system and its failure to deal with the needs of the economy and the logjams it has created for residential and infrastructure? The development plan will not realise its ambition by virtue of the delays associated with planning. Will the Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill address all, a lot, not enough or few of those logjams? In a time of emergency, we might have imagined some emergency powers would be forthcoming to deal with these matters but that has not been the case. No party or political organisation seems willing to risk that. Local authorities go to great lengths to consult the public on their development plans. They are cognisant of various initiatives, guidelines, policies and directives adhering to density, design, infrastructure, capacity and the availability of services. People might participate in that process or not but irrespective, as soon as there is an application to build four houses, they can hold it up for five years. That is not right in my book. Has Niall Cussen anything to say about the likes of that?