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

To be clear, I am not proposing that the inspector makes the decision. My proposal is for a dual approach. The inspectors, based on all the information they have, make a recommendation but ultimately, for the very reasons the Minister of State has outlined, the board must then decide if that recommendation is appropriate or not. I fail to see why the Minister of State would not allow the inspector to make a recommendation. That is the one point the Minister of State has not addressed. Such a recommendation might be that the matter is for the board to decide. It may be that a particular case is finely tuned and the inspector is not in a position to make such a recommendation. However, I see no reason not to allow the inspector to make a recommendation because the inspector will have spent far more time sifting through the fine grain of the case. Some of these can be very complex cases with substantial levels of documentation. They could require a level of interaction with the complainant and the construction industry professional. I do not understand why a recommendation would not be possible. Can the Minister of State convince me why that should not be so? The decision is ultimately made by the board on the basis of that broader criteria so that safety net would be there anyway.