Marcella Corcoran Kennedy (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

What evidence will be required to justify a material contravention? Should it be brought further than the local authority? Should there be another agency to rubberstamp it?

Training is very important for the elected member. However, it is also important in enforcement. When we received submissions and presentations on pyrite, many of the people who were evaluating that substance had not necessarily received the training to recognise its impacts or even to recognise what it could possibly do. Is the Minister of State considering providing training for elected members?

Much of the work on planning applications takes place in the early stages when a developer is investigating the potential for a planning application. Perhaps all of this should be required to be documented on the full file even if it does not result in a planning application so that there is some record that can be referred to in the future regardless of whether it continues to a full planning application. People should be aware of the planning that takes place prior to the submission of the application.