Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Asking for a review of a decision made by the local authority and then saying that if a person challenges it, the official who will carry out the review will be more senior in the same department is fair enough as a first step. I do not cast aspersions on officials in any housing department, but let us be honest. They are all in the same department; they all know each other and there are discussions about this and that person and so on; therefore, there must be another level of appeal on these matters where those reviewing decisions are genuinely and thoroughly independent of the housing department or the local authority. While the amendment is reasonable, it does not go far enough. We all know there can be difficult, heated and complex disputes.