Mr. Aidan Sweeney:

On why ministerial directions are needed, I am sure members will have had accounts of this, but when someone is trying to find out where a project is in a planning process and he or she goes onto the old An Bord Pleanála website, it would only say that it has been submitted and the application is with the inspectorate. That is where the visibility stops. An Bord Pleanála was using a prioritisation process for how it cleared its backlog of planning applications. We would like to make sure clear directions are given by the relevant Ministers to say that certain projects are supporting national objectives and they should be there. At the moment there are two main categories, namely everything that is strategic infrastructure, which is usually defined by size, or other projects. As Mr. Brady said, that could be the extension of a house and a school at the same time. Which takes precedence? Our key call is to give clear direction to say which projects should be treated in a expeditious manner and would be backed up by having clear sectoral guidelines, which would be put into local development plans, and all the planning guidelines that inspectors have to adhere to in making a decision.

We now think that with An Coimisiún Pleanála, and the new structures, new chief executive and new oversight board, which is separate to the commissioners, there is an opportunity for better and more transparent case management systems and better prioritisation of the cases through it. That is one of the things on which ministerial guidelines should be issued, stating what the key priorities are so we do not end up with a situation, say, like the airport passenger cap, of being stuck in the board. Will we end up with other projects out there, whether it is BusConnects or different issues that are there, where we do not know when they are going to pop out? That is the key thing for that visibility.

The second point is to emphasise there is also an issue for us in that what might be strategic or critical pieces of infrastructure may not be recognised as strategic in the planning system because strategic infrastructure is a specific class of development. We are trying to say that if these are recognised in national policies as critical or strategic, they should be immediately prioritised. Our NDP projects should be classified as priority projects through the planning system. That will at least help in knowing when, up to the 48 weeks, those decisions can be made.