Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will return to plan-making. I asked what changes or additions to the Bill Ms Meghen and Ms Sheridan think will be required to strengthen plan-making. I will add two additional points. I am a fan of the limited amount of 3D plan-making we use. I have been through a full strategic development zone plan. They are not without their problems, but they have real advantages both from the point of view of the council, the public and landowners. What is their view of the provisions of the Bill and those new elements of plans as regards the extent to which they will allow public and wider community participation and the multidisciplinary participation they mentioned?

Specifically on planning permissions, the more I listened to the witnesses' responses to Deputy O'Callaghan, the more I thought that strengthens the role for strong preplanning processes. However, with public participation at the preplanning stage and cross-sectoral involvement, we can do a certain amount of 3D planning. It will take time and resources. If we had stronger provisions in the Bill for statutory preplanning requirements and a high level of public participation to deal with some of the issues Deputy O'Callaghan mentioned, we would have the best of both worlds. Will the witnesses share their thoughts on that range of issues?