Ms Oonagh Buckley:

Can I put in one counter please? A planner does not work in a vacuum. The planner does not make a decision on a planning appeal or application at either local authority level or the board. The system is set up so somebody else makes the decision and that is the board. In parts of the UK, for example, the planner makes the decision but that is not the way it has always been in Ireland. We could move to that but it would be a very big change in the Irish system. I would caution that there is a tension within the system between what is getting the expertise and advice of a planner and what is the final decision on that. In no way do I suggest that I condone, in any way, any planner being asked to change his or her opinion on a file. That is certainly not the case.