Mr. John Sheahan:

If I may add to Senator Boyhan’s comments that planning is subjective, which we all know. It is a broad Bible as such. Whatever planning Act we finish up with will prove how efficient or non-efficient an Bord Pleanála will be. If things are too loose and all over the shop, as when we looked at the wonderful Project 2040 when it came in, the board went straight to that as its document. We all caught up with it, with city and county development plans. We sat there for nine to 18 months waiting to get decisions back down from the board which had no regard for the present plans we had. They should always have had regard for the present plans until there was a democratic change in that. It depends, therefore, on how robust this planning Act will be with regard to how efficient An Bord Pleanála will be going forward.