Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for attending today. As the last speaker said, the Department has quite a tough task over the next few months. I wish the witnesses well with that and thank them for engaging with the committee on it. I note that one of the key principles is increasing clarity and the streamlining of legislation. An issue that I come across time and again is the lack of clarity and streamlining of decision-making in terms of different local authorities. In particular, my constituency is an urban one run by South Dublin County Council but we do have a rural area. We find that South Dublin County Council has very different guidelines in comparison with Kildare County Council or Wicklow County Council when it comes to one-off rural housing. I would be quite interested to know if the Department's terms stretch to that. Are there plans for new rural planning guidelines? How will that fit in with the review?

On local area plans, LAPs, in my own area there are moves to do deliver an LAP for Rathcoole. We imagine that the census results will show that the area has a population of over 5,000, which is the mark it needs to hit to require an LAP. There is also a campaign under way to get an LAP for Saggart. I am wondering, on the hierarchy of plans, how that works. We have the national planning framework and county development plans. At this point, where does the Department see LAPs fitting into that? Do the witnesses think there is a future need for them in urban areas, or should it be looked at from a different perspective?

Our planning system can be slow. We have heard that from a number of different stakeholders who have appeared before the committee previously. However, one of the real benefits of the system is that it is transparent. It absolutely has transparency at the heart of it. When we are drafting the legislation, we must ensure that we protect that hallmark of transparency, while also ensuring that we minimise any unnecessary delays in large-scale public projects, in particular. I would be keen to hear the witnesses' overview of that at this point.

I think public participation is critical and we need to encourage and protect that. However, we also need to tighten up the system a bit from an efficiency perspective. I ask the witnesses for their views on that.