Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I join others in welcoming Ms Brogan, Mr. Mullaney and Mr. Ebrill to the committee. I apologise as today is exceptionally busy and there have been many overlapping meetings. I read the opening statement and I have followed most of the debate from my office. I want to pick up from where Deputy Ó Murchú left off. The planning process for roads is very frustrating. In Dublin city there is a professional planning objection company, namely, The Swans and the Snails Limited.

It has held up some really key projects in County Clare. It is amoral that an objector can be so far removed from the good and the bad of a project that the objector would see fit to object to something. I would never in a month of Sundays think it would be appropriate for me to object to a proposal on the opposite side of the country. The Department is participating in interdepartmental negotiations. Has the issue of vexatious and distant objections arisen? Does the Department propose to place a cap or restriction on who can object, where they should live and how approximate they should be to a project so that projects are not vexatiously and unnecessarily held up?