Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

-----to stop the extraction by 2030. This, to me, proves there is a lack of capacity to deliver decisions. That is only one example. There are many others. I apologise for having mentioned that one but the witnesses will understand the gravity of the situation and the impact it could have on those I represent and who have given me the privilege to be here.

I am equally concerned, and rightly so, about the growing number of representations being made to me by people who are at their wits' end in relation to their being able to find a home into the future. An Bord Pleanála has as much of a role to play as the rest of us. Great expectations will be placed upon it in the context of this legislation and possibly other legislation to address this crisis. I am conscious of the fact that we have area-based plans, county plans, regional plans and spatial strategies to which An Bord Pleanála must have regard when dealing with appeals but none of those were designed at a time or in a space such as that in which we find ourselves now. That worries me. I do not think An Bord Pleanála can appropriately deal with the crisis while having regard to plans that are years old and do not take account of the current emergency. For this reason, I would have preferred the establishment of an authority to bring forward emergency legislation to allow for a period of suspension of many of these items to allow houses to be built. Ultimately, that it is what has to be done. We can talk all day long about the provisions in the Finance Bill but that is a demand solution to a supply problem. There is a need for a holistic approach by the Houses of the Oireachtas by way of emergency legislation to provide for a period of suspension of those plans to allow address of this problem, in respect of which we can all stand back in two or three years' time and suffer the consequences or accept the plaudits in terms of whether it has failed or succeeded.