Mr. Dave Walsh:

If an appellant seeks a request for an oral hearing an inspector will examine the file and make a recommendation to the board as to whether she or he considers there is sufficient information on the file to enable her or him to make an assessment. Then that goes to the board for a decision. In the vast majority of cases the inspector's recommendation is carried through.

On the Deputy's last question, for oral planning appeals an oral hearing request can be considered by a two-person meeting. As I said earlier to the Cathaoirleach, if there are any cases that relate to strategic infrastructure that require an environmental impact assessment, they cannot be dealt with by a two-person quorum.