Ms Oonagh Buckley:

I personally cannot recall if that provision was in the original protected structures legislation, which I confess I wrote so I should remember. We do need that mixture of skills within An Bord Pleanála, and one of the mixture of skills we need is architectural, archaeology and conservation architecture. I hope that over time we will achieve a balance of those skills within it. As members will know, the protection of protected structures was central in a recent High Court decision so it is central to the way the board needs to make its decisions. We need the resources to be able to take those decisions correctly. I cannot recall whether this is an evolution and the Department is probably better placed to brief the committee.