Mr. John O'Connor:

There is no interaction with An Bord Pleanála, which is an independent body that has to act independently and in a quasi-judicial manner. If anyone has any qualms or feels An Bord Pleanála is not doing the job in the way it is meant to do it, there are judicial review proceedings available to them. There are safeguards in the system. This is the system that has been set up by these Houses and, unless it is changed, it is the system we have to rely on. We have to have faith that it will deliver decent decisions for the benefit of the public.

The Senator mentioned the issue of An Bord Pleanála being asleep at the wheel in terms of the planning that happened in recent years. First, only about 7% of local planning decisions are appealed to An Bord Pleanála, but there are the criticisms the Senator mentions, and planning certainly has to look at itself and see how it performed during the boom. I have no problem with that. However, the Senator might recall that, throughout that period, as chairman of An Bord Pleanála, I raised in the annual report some of these issues that subsequently proved to be very problematic. I raised them because I could see what was happening at local level from what was coming before the board. I raised issues such as the way small towns and villages were being swamped with huge estates, the standard of apartments and so forth. I raised all of those issues going back over the years of my time there.

I have already dealt with the question of the valuation of property. It is something raised repeatedly in the consultations and it is something that will have to be addressed by EirGrid when it is making its application.

Senator Brennan has the same problem with regard to consultation. I take his points about the concerns of communities and the need to respect communities. I agree with him this is something we have to bear in mind.