Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

We often hear about planning being the scapegoat and it gets blamed for everything, including the delays and expenses, and we are told it is the reason we do not have houses. I do not believe that because we have a good planning system. If we could get the timeframes right and if we did not have those excessive delays, surely the planning process could be factored into development proposals and the lifetime of same. Then a developer could envisage what possible and probable steps there would be in a development.