Mr. Liam Kenny:

I want to talk about something very specific that occupies a significant amount of the workload of our councillors, especially in rural areas, namely, planning. As has been mentioned, we have the Planning and Development Bill, and I congratulate Oireachtas Members on their stamina in negotiating such a leviathan of a Bill. In consultation with our members on the Bill over the past 18 months, a few issues have been raised. Some are probably lost to us in terms of being able to change the Bill at this stage.

There is one specific and local matter, that is, section 90 of the Bill. There is provision for an applicant for a large-scale rural development to be accompanied by somebody of his or her choosing. A number of our members have pointed out there is no such provision for an applicant for a standard planning application, such as a single rural house, in a pre-consultation meeting. It is something that has no cost or legislation implications. An amendment could be made to the Bill such that an applicant for a standard planning application pre-consultation meeting could be accompanied by an adviser, such as a councillor. There are arm's length procedures already in place to ensure everything is above board. I ask whether that could be considered when the Seanad examines the Bill next week.