Mr. Conor Linehan:

There seems to be something counterintuitive about imposing fines and reducing resources even further for this very reason. There is the issue of principle. There are many other statutory environmental decision-makers. It is not just An Bord Pleanála. Whether it will lead to rushed decisions is another question. Will it be good for the morale of the board that its individual officers will be under this pressure? In recent weeks, the chair of the board, Ms Buckley, asked questions on this. We ask the committee to give them some detailed consideration.