Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

If the Minister of State was in a position to share the tabular form of the commencement schedule with the committee, we would all appreciate that.

I have some follow-on questions. The first is to help us understand the process. The Minister of State has set out an ambitious schedule for commencement of the various Parts of the Bill. He might commence sections, but there will be multiple regulations required to give effect to those sections. While certain sections like those concerning An Bord Pleanála or An Coimisiún Pleanála could be enacted be the end of quarter 3 of this year, there will be a range of regulations consequent to that which will take a period of time. For example, is there an expectation that statutory timelines will come in this year? With no evidence to the contrary, I assume not. It would make no sense to put in statutory timelines for a board with a backlog of 60%. For the person on the street who wants to know when the various bits of this legislation will apply in the real world, I presume the actual schedule is further out because some time can be added to each of the timelines the Minister of State has given. What is the Minister of State's hope? I presume there is negotiation with the board on those timelines. That is one that is eagerly awaited and I would be interested to hear about it.

The next question relates to plans and developments for the end of quarter 4 of 2024. Much of that will depend on staffing. The board has recently recruited staff from local authorities. Those authorities have made it clear they need additional planning authority staff just to fulfil their current responsibilities before this is taken into account. How much of the phasing in of this, post commencement of the regulations, will be dependent on staffing?

Some of Part 9 is connected to the work the Department of climate is doing on the legal aid scheme or cost protection scheme, whatever we want to call it. Does the Minister of State have information on where it is at with those elements of Part 9 commencements?