Mr. John McCarthy:

On the general question of suggested blockages in the planning system, I am not saying the planning system is perfect and there will always be cases where issues arise but, on foot of suggestions that the planning system was acting as a block, we have undertaken informal analysis through local authorities. We looked at the key developments in their areas and we tried to get a sense of the factors preventing them moving forward. In many cases, there are financial issues in terms of the unwinding of the housing market into a more normal space and the capacity of the financial institutions to provide development finance in order to allow them to proceed. That said, we are mindful of the need to ensure the planning system does not become a blockage to proper development. As part of the construction strategy mentioned earlier, which the Government is working on, we are looking to see if there are ways we can make tweaks to the planning system to facilitate development that is financed and has the capacity to move forward.