Mr. Gavin Lawlor:

As I have said in our presentation, the issue is about transparency around the appointment. I do not think that there is any intent to focus or concentrate power in a Minister more so than there is or has been in the past. The Minister does have significant discretion currently concerning the appointment of board members from nominating bodies. So there is a list of people and the Minister has significant discretion as to who he picks from that list to go to the board.

Our issue concerns clarity and transparency. One of the biggest challenges is the fact that traditionally the board has been seen as a lay board so representative of society. Planning has become increasingly technical and complex with lots more of a legislative background out of necessity, which I see as a positive. However, planning has become much more complex.

The average layperson who does not have a discipline in the built environment finds it very challenging to get their heads around what is going on and the complexities.