Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

A TAP is a little like a planning permission. The organisation outlines what it is going to do but it is not saying at what point over that five-year period it is going to do it. That means stuff can be delayed for legitimate or illegitimate reasons. As far as I understand it, there is no requirement under the current statutory framework for the TAPs to include a timeline for the delivery of that programme. That might be something to think about if there is going to be amending legislation. We could provide for a statutory addition to the new TAPs requiring local authorities to put in a timeline as an amendment to the TAP. That would create a clear basis both for the NTACC and for the regulator. The local authorities are going to say what they notionally are going to do each year in terms of the output of new units and refurbishments. If we have that statutory timeframe - I am only thinking about this on the hoof - it would provide a tool whereby if the regulator is to make a recommendation to the Minister of intervention for failure to implement the plan, the Minister can say the local authority is in breach of the timeframe and in breach of its statutory obligations. If there is no statutory timeframe attached to the TAP and the regulator is making a recommendation to the Minister, a local authority could turn around and say it is in the programme but it just has not got to it yet. Small things like that would not be legally complicated but might be very useful in terms of assisting the functioning of the new planning arrangement.