Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

That leads me to my next question, on recruitment and why somebody would want to be a member of An Bord Pleanála. When an organisation comes under the spotlight, as it is at the moment, and when there is so much speculation regarding wrongdoing that may have happened, it impacts on everybody who works in the organisation. In my experience of working with planners at local authority level, they come under a lot of scrutiny as well. There is no doubt that there have been issues with the planning system across the board over the years, which we know about through the various tribunals and so on, but it is always important to state that we are aware there are many good people working hard in the board who want to make those proper, open and transparent decisions in the public interest because that is their role. In trying to recruit board members, will the way in which confidence, as others have noted, has been knocked in that agency present difficulties in getting people to take on those roles?