John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Ms Buckley and her fellow witnesses are very welcome to this morning's meeting on what is a really important issue. It is not just about accountability, but also about rebuilding the reputation of the board. As Ms Buckley has said, very serious reputational damage has been done and restoring that public confidence and the board's reputation will be a colossal task. I wish her all the best in that regard. I welcome Ms Buckley's comment that she would consider issuing a corporate public apology. I also welcome her apology to members of the public and to members of the board, past and present. I imagine a shadow has been cast over all current and previous members of the board. That is a cause for concern.

I come from County Wicklow, where there are a number of legacy issues relating to planning and some very serious concerns. A number of very serious allegations of planning irregularities have been made. I am not saying that they all relate to An Bord Pleanála nor am I going to get into them here but formal complaints have been made to successive Ministers. I believe a process is under way to look at those very serious planning irregularities. Needless to say, since the news regarding An Bord Pleanála broke last year, I have been contacted by many of the people who made those allegations and complaints to the Department.

Ms Buckley has commissioned Lorna Lynch to carry out an external review. With regard to the terms of reference for the work Ms Lynch has embarked upon in respect of potential conflicts of interest and so on, how far back is she going to look?