Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I welcome those specific apologies and I understand the case for them. Ms Buckley should give consideration to a corporate apology, to which she indicated she is open. It is not just about individual planning applications. The entire public trust in our planning system has been undermined. If she is open to considering a corporate public apology, it would be welcome.

Staying with the issue of rebuilding trust, a central component of that must be transparency. As the adage goes, the best disinfectant is sunlight. In her opening statement, Ms Buckley indicated that she has asked Lorna Lynch SC to carry out a scoping investigation and prepare a report. She further states that she has asked that the final report should be "capable of being published", but there are caveats attached to that. There is a bit of a ring of "Father Ted" to this, with the question "Is there anything to be said for another mass?" coming to mind. We have had numerous reports, at least two of which have never seen the light of day. The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage commissioned an independent analysis around alleged conflicts of interest. That has been forward to the Director of Public Prosecutions, DPP, for which I get the rationale. I understand there was also an internal report from senior management. In addition, a third report was carried out by Resolve Ireland, which apparently found that An Bord Pleanála's director of planning has no case to answer. I say "apparently" but, in fact, it is not apparent because the report was never published. I assume that report was paid for out of the public purse. If the money is followed back, it is the taxpayer who footed the bill for it. Why was it never published? Does Ms Buckley see how the burying of successive reports does nothing to rebuild public trust?

Regarding the report commissioned by the Minister, has the board had sight of it and, if so, has Ms Buckley implemented any of its recommendations in the interim?