Mr. Philip Nugent:

As regards how we propose to proceed with the accreditation system, this has only been discussed at three working groups so far. We are still very much getting to grips with it and trying to think about how we would do it. We have never done it before. Some member states seem to have accreditation systems of sorts, so the usual approach would be to begin looking at examples in other jurisdictions. At this stage we have not really thought about how an accreditation system might work, or what the qualification standards would be.

As regards in-house expertise, it is the case that the volume of planning applications coming into planning authorities has dropped off significantly. The number of staff in planning departments has also dropped off to reflect that. There is a big difference, however, between the qualifications and expertise of a general planner who examines normal planning applications and the highly specialised and detailed scientific qualifications that would be required to have such a person in-house for each local authority.

As regards how local authorities will be resourced to take on these experts, we would not be looking at 32 or 34 experts in each field, that is, one in each planning authority. We would probably be looking more at a shared service model, as I told Senator Keane earlier. Inevitably, however, the cost of providing that expertise would have to be passed on to the industry or the developers.

I am not familiar with Food Harvest 2020 but it sounds to me more like a plan than a project. If it is a plan, it would be subject to strategic environmental assessment rather than an environmental impact assessment, which is more about a project.