Mr. Nick Killian:

County Meath, where I am a councillor, was one of the first counties to go through the process with the OPR. We did our development plan with the OPR at various training sessions the AILG provides across the country. I recall saying to regulator that the planners themselves were fearful of the OPR. It was like there was a sword of Damocles hanging over the planners to get this right. There was serious caution there. My colleagues in the CCMA may not agree in that regard but there was a fear factor among planners. It is not that they were being unprofessional or not doing their jobs but the OPR came into the conversation so much that we began to fear the man himself, whom, as a former planner in County Meath, we knew.