Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour) | Oireachtas source

In the context of the planned planning application for Dublin Airport and the raising of the cap, there has been a degree of urgency in the language used in recent weeks, which has somewhat catastrophised the impact it will have on the economy. On the first weekend of November, the Taoiseach came out and said he welcomed the lifting of the cap. If we are looking for a planning process that is straight down the middle, as we all believe it ought to be, the Taoiseach stating, even before a planning application has been submitted, how he would like to see that determined is not very helpful. I somewhat welcome Mr. Jacobs' acknowledgement of how complicated this planning application will be for the planning authority. Looking at the media reports on the matter, one would think this is all about raising a cap from 32 million to 40 million. This is a massive piece of infrastructure that DAA will be applying for. I suspect it will be one of the biggest planning applications the local authority has ever received. Mr. Jacobs stated that it could take up to two years to be decided. There has to be an acknowledgement that this will not be a quick process, given the size of the proposed planning application Mr. Jacobs has set out today. I invite him to comment further on that. I know he would like the system to be different, but the system is what it is. The urgency that has been placed upon it by him and through the comments of the Taoiseach has not been helpful going into this planning process.