Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am not a member of the committee and I was at a meeting on water earlier but I support what Deputies Ó Broin and Catherine Murphy have said. I have concerns around the proposal to go straight to An Bord Pleanála with large developments. It is important to get a balance and nobody is questioning the reasons the Minister wants to do this as he obviously wishes to get building going as quickly as possible. I am not sure, however, that this proposal will achieve any great speed. The Minister quotes figures for how long it takes but a lot of that is around the preplanning stage and some councils have more efficient preplanning meetings than others, for example, bringing in different sections of the council. This proposal bypasses local areas - though not local democracy as councillors have no role in these decisions. It is important that things are done locally where possible and that, where possible, decisions are not removed from the local area. I agree with the point that we will be more likely to have judicial reviews if they are the only option.