Mr. Henk van der Kamp:

As Deputy Catherine Murphy said, there are many advantages and one can accept the way it works. However, the institute expressed concern when the Bill was introduced to transfer decision making from a local authority to An Bord Pleanála. One of the concerns we had at the time was that the board was changing its role. In the context of developing wind farm technology, it is a valid point and ties in with the plan-led argument. If county development plans are clear and there is a clear acknowledgement of infrastructure requirement, there is no reason infrastructure cannot be dealt with at local authority level.