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

The Minister of State absolutely said that both the applicant and the planning authority could avail of this. He said that very clearly. However, he then went on to say - I cannot remember his exact words - that this is a provision that the planning authority may choose to avail of if it needs some extra time. Under the Planning and Development Act 2000, if I have a standard planning application with my local authority that is subject to a very strict statutory timeline, can I avail of exactly the same procedure today? I apologise. I will flip that around. If I am an applicant who has put in a standard application to the planning authority, can that authority avail of this procedure today and seek to extend the statutory timeline? My understanding is that it cannot do so. Can the planning authority use that function?