Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I will come in on the issue of the pre-application stage, the documentation that will be made available to the planning authority and this limitation on further information requests. It needs to be made very clear and imperative to developers that they bring in high-quality documentation and environmental impact assessments, that they comply with every aspect of planning requirements at the pre-application stage and that they do not dip a toe in the water to see what the planning authority says before they take a punt on their application. They need to be very clear and they need to do their homework. Many of these judicial reviews have been successful because those matters have not been addressed correctly. The further information request of a local authority should not be limited. I accept that it can cause delays, but if local authorities need to request further information there should not be a limit placed on them. The onus should be on the developer to submit high-quality documentation. It should be the developer that gets penalised if he or she does not do that. The planning authority should not get just one shot at it.