John Cummins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for not being present at the start but I was listening to the meeting in the car while travelling so I did hear all of the opening statements. I am not sure who made the comment about our international reputation and the difficulty in that regard. If the community outside of Ireland perceives it to have a problem and delay in terms of planning, then we have a big problem. We can never guarantee certainty on decision-making, but the aim is to try to ensure certainty in terms of timelines. The witnesses collectively welcomed the goal of trying to introduce statutory timelines for An Bord Pleanála. We know it has 18 weeks at present, which it has regularly extended by six weeks, but unfortunately at the end of the six-week period it is anybody's guess as to when a decision will be made. We know the reasons for that such as the availability of staff to make a decision. Given the context and the fact the planning legislation will be in place for the next 20 years, what do the witnesses consider to be the appropriate timeline for a decision to be made by An Bord Pleanála? In the first meeting with the Department, it was talking about interim arrangements initially given the staffing challenges that exist in An Bord Pleanála. The point I made at the time is that the legislation is for 20 years, so if we are going to have interim arrangements, what is the ultimate goal in terms of decision-making time?

Wind Energy Ireland thought it was reasonable to have 20 to 30 weeks for an SID. What do the other organisations feel? Perhaps I could start with IIP.