Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

It would be really helpful to provide clarity and guidance. The guidelines are there as guidance, rather than relying on anecdotal discussions which take place about the difficulty, or lack of difficulty as the figures suggest, on the delivery of one-off housing.

The Office of the Planning Regulator was probably one of the best things to happen in the planning system following the Mahon tribunal. We talked about the staffing levels in An Bord Pleanála going up to a full complement of board members making decisions. The trajectory is to have up to 300 staff by mid-2024. It probably should have always been in and around that level. There was a considerable workload in An Bord Pleanála. It is no wonder it fell back into backlog with such low staff numbers and other issues with the board. Is the Office of the Planning Regulator looking for more staff? Is its staff level about right? It does incredible research and provides very informative evidence-based publications. It also assists greatly in training local councillors who really are at the coalface when it comes to decision-making on development plans, local area plans and new plans which come under the planning Act. What is the status of the OPR at the moment?