John Cummins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

All of us here are acutely aware of the challenges experienced by those who seek planning permission for whatever purpose. We are aware of the challenges that exist at An Bord Pleanála regarding decision-making and some of the stats that have been provided to us. The decision making within the statutory time period has dropped from what I think was an already 57% rate to 45% in 2022. For all of us who have been involved in the local authority sector in particular, there will be broad acknowledgement that the local authority does an exceptionally good job in terms of planning, and only about 10% of applications come before the board. However, the difficulty is that when something comes before the board or ends up in a judicial review, the time period for resolution is indefinite. One of the challenges of this legislation is to acknowledge the deficits and the challenges that exist in An Bord Pleanála, but also to have timelines that if a person goes into the planning process today they will know a decision will be made in a certain period of time. I do not think that is an unreasonable expectation for somebody who is making an application. It is important that every arm of this legislation is framed with that in mind. We have to have certainty. Not having certainty regarding what the decision will be, we cannot give certainty in that respect. Certainty about the timelines that one can expect to get out the other side of the process should be achievable. The witnesses have said that they will engage with and work with the board regarding the timelines, that there will be a range of timelines that will be applied and that it will be done on a phased basis, starting with the energy sector. I would like to see the same focus that has been put on the energy sector applied to the housing sector. Where a decision is being made in respect of a housing development that should be in the first tranche of timelines that we focus on in terms of setting An Bord Pleanála those targets. Has this been given much thought?