Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I accept that we do want to leave some flexibility for the local authorities. The reason I propose "shall" is to oblige them to do it because anyone who has ever dealt with planning authorities knows that they are extremely busy and sometimes the protected structure stuff just falls down the list a little bit because of all of their other duties. What I was trying to do was to give them a stronger nudge to take these actions by using the word "shall". Maybe we could ask them to "strive to take such steps" or something along those lines. I understand the Minister of State's point that we are binding their hands by saying "shall" and that there are other avenues that may be applicable.