Mr. Gavin Lawlor:

Yes, and this goes back to exactly what Senator Boyhan said earlier about ICT systems and gathering information. One of the almost criminal aspects of our current planning system is that it is almost impossible to determine the precedent established by the board regarding references. It is there on the board's website but it is almost impenetrable. We in our practice, therefore, have our own matrix of it, and every time a reference has been decided by the board, we include that and have a reference and a link to it. That learning and precedent, however, is not really there. It is very impenetrable and is very difficult, even for a planner in a local authority, to determine the answer in a tricky case where there is nuance. That is not immediately available, which leads to significant differences in different parts of the country as to what constitutes development. That, in turn, leads to frustration with communities, whether it is a member of the public, a developer or a homeowner. Where somebody has converted a garage because it is 0.5 m too far forward on the boundary, that might no longer be exempted development. There is a great deal of frustration regarding that because the precedent cannot be clearly seen.