Ms Oonagh Buckley:

As I explained in my opening statement, there was a big surge of SHD applications as the legislation was coming to an end at the end of 2021 and into 2022. Priority was given all the way through to SHD applications. No fine was paid until the very end of 2021. That big surge coincided with what happened in An Bord Pleanála and the loss of decision-makers. So, the backlog just grew and grew. As it happens, in many instances, developers would have been fully aware a new development plan was coming through. They might have had sight of the new draft development plan. Many of them would have dealt with issues arising under the new draft development plan, aware, as they would be, that the board would have to take a decision under the new plan as opposed to the old plan. That is dealt with in many of those applications. In other instances, the development plan will not have changed significantly, but we need to make decisions on those remaining SHD applications and I will try to get those completed by the end of this year.