Mr. Gavin Lawlor:

Yes, but I believe that is more a piece for guidelines rather than legislation. I agree with the Senator in that there needs to be a common understanding of what is an appropriate test to deal with these issues. One of the classic features if one looks at all of the development plans is that there are 50 shades of grey when it comes to zoning all over the country. There is no zoning matrix which applies universally across the country. If I say “new residential” in Dublin, it might mean something subtly different in Galway, Limerick or Kerry. There are variations in respect of what is permissible and where some local authorities allow a great number of things in residential zoning and some are very narrow. That is one of the challenges in ensuring that there is consistency of approach. The whole purpose of national guidelines, in the first instance, is to ensure that everybody is working off the same rules. Those are guidelines and it is not legislation.