Ms Maria Graham:

As a number of previous speakers indicated , the office is relatively new. As I said earlier, it emanated from the recommendations of the Mahon tribunal. It is a very important part of the planning system and confidence in that system. There is no intention to significantly change any of the roles or functions of the OPR. Tweaking that might be required to clarify provisions is what is intended.

I understand precisely what the Deputy is saying regarding the point he mentioned. There will be some clarification due to the fact a residential zoned land tax will be coming into place. If people have no intention that land zoned for residential purposes will ever come into use, then they will have the opportunity to seek to have that land dezoned and there can be a greater focus on land that is zoned.

On the function of planning, if land is zoned, there is a presumption that it will come into use for residential purposes. There is an obligation on the State to prepare that land, put in services and do all the planning we have talked about, whether it is for an urban or rural area. Over time, that tension will reduce because land that is not going to come into use for residential purposes and that will be used for another purpose simply should not be zoned. The focus should be on the servicing of land that can come into residential use. That is the direction of travel To some extent, it is probably a difficult first trawl through and a learning process for everyone through the OPR cycle, but that will get easier over time.