Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Regarding amendments Nos. 229 and 230, the Minister of State confirmed earlier that MARA would be highly resourced, supported and up and running in a timely manner to meet the expected planning demands and requests that will be placed on it. An applicant needs to await the granting of a MAC before engaging in any pre-planning discussions. Is it the Minister of State’s view it is timely to wait for the 90 days involved or would it be a positive for the process for an applicant to engage in pre-planning discussions while also going through the MAC application process?