Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister has mentioned some of the planning issues. We need to look at the system and we need to look at resourcing it at every point. Some of this does not necessarily relate to the Minister's Department, but any of us who have ever gone through development plans, or even been sideways involved with them, are all aware that there is a scenario, let us say, of the Office of the Planning Regulator, OPR, the council and planners existing here and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, or whatever else, existing there. There is not necessarily proper, joined-up thinking. That is before even getting into the specifics of rural housing or whatever. It is a particular issue. We have all experienced hold-ups where the full conversations were not had.

I will follow on from where the Chair finished on NBI. Some of the issues are not necessarily budgetary. NBI's representatives said to us, and I will welcome the Minister's view on it, that they now have a seven-year plan in place, taking into account delays due to the Covid pandemic. They are looking at having a better plan, within the next six to nine months, on how that part of it, first of all, could be caught up on; they are talking about 2023 or 2024 for that. Within that same period there is the wider issue of acceleration, which is necessary, in that what is in years six and seven would be put into years four and five. If that happens, and NBI puts a plan together whereby it is expecting everything will be done on a contractual basis with ESB, Eir and all the necessary players, its fear is whether resources at planning and engineering level will be dedicated to it within local authorities, accepting that the section 254 guidelines have been updated or whatever. Is the Minister reasonably happy that this will be done and that the conversations will have taken place to deliver that resource and to make sure this can happen?

The other question I will throw to him and, again, I know it is slightly off the subject matter we are dealing with, is that now we can see the people who will be in year four-five as opposed to year six-seven, we need a little due diligence in offering them interim alternatives that are available. An element of due diligence will have to be done by the State, even if it is only engagement with companies and operators that are delivering these possible solutions.