Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is on the point that Ms Graham was discussing. I believe the issues paper that is issued has the potential. I am very familiar with some of these issues papers. It is about managing people's expectation. It is a very important thing in anything we do in any walk of life or in any business. When people are told that it is their plan and they can have what they want, they think of libraries, swimming pools and so forth. Perhaps it could be the issues paper that is issued in advance.

In fairness, many of the councils do good public engagement. Unfortunately, with Covid-19 it was not possible to have that level of engagement. A lot of people like to come to the county halls, the hotel meetings or whatever and see them. It is about setting out honestly what people can achieve, particularly the public. The politician is an extension of the public so if the public are putting pressure on the local councillors, they legitimately want to represent their constituents' interests. Then the politicians do not like bringing back bad news and saying they cannot deliver. We have to understand the players in the process.

There was a time when there was no issues paper so we have come a long way, but I believe we could set the parameters and it would be helpful. Everyone is on a learning curve. Nobody ever knows this business because it is constantly changing. It is to assist the elected members because they are the conduit between the local council and the public, and somehow it is to connect all those parts. Perhaps there is room for improvement in that. We are standardising how we are doing development plans and I think that will iron itself out in time.