Mr. Niall Cussen:

I thank the Senator, and I thank him for his kind words. On the Association of Irish Local Government, AILG, engagement and the councillor training, the Senator has worked very hard behind the scenes to support that and we very much appreciate that.

In terms of the Senator's comment at the end of his contribution, as Deputy Ó Broin said, it is perfectly appropriate that we are subjected to scrutiny. I take issue with personalised attacks, however. The team I have working with me in very difficult circumstances through Covid have been exceptional. All of them are hard-working public servants and they are doing a job that is expected of them by the public. It is set out under the statute so when we are into the territory of name-calling and so on I do not think that is appropriate. There have been some very good pieces in the media from other parliamentarians about people being thoughtful in respect of the language they are using. It is not a good aspect of public life when we are calling people names and so on. That is not appropriate. The appearance here today is one of the few opportunities I have to set things out from our point of view.

We absolutely get the piece about the elected members at local level being passionate about their areas. We are all from different areas of the country. We are all very passionate about our local place. We absolutely get that. We want to do more to support the elected members. My team here are engaged in literally monthly training events, as the Senator knows, sometimes with more than 200 elected members registering in individual events. Is it not a sobering thought that now that our office is established, which reflects the vision of the Oireachtas and so on, this is the first national training programme for planning done nationwide and on a regular basis?

In terms of supports and notes, there are many different materials available for download from our websites. We video our events. The presentations are available. Papers and pamphlets have been prepared and we will do more on that. We will engage with the elected members to see how they can be supported more while at the same time remembering that their advisers are the executives of the local authorities. The officials in the local authorities are there to support, inform and advise the elected members in respect of their statutory functions.

I am glad the Senator raised the impetus on online planning because Covid has put into sharp focus that the planning service probably was not quite where it needed to be in terms of the delivery of online services. It is perhaps a bit more complex for planning than other aspects of public services. A planning application, as the Senator knows, is a complex beast with many different drawings and papers, especially if it is a large scheme. It is different from renewing one's television licence. I refer to how one views that and the infrastructure that has to go on in the background in servicing that. That is probably the reason An Bord Pleanála has taken more time than it would have liked to deliver a proper online service.