Mr. Philip Jones:

-----if the resources are not provided, it will be a waste of time. It is a waste of time having all these great ideas if there is nobody on the ground, particularly planners in forward planning, to do the good stuff that is there. That is a significant message for the Department. I read the transcript of Oonagh Buckley's evidence to the committee. The board sought 59 staff to do the marine stuff but it got 30-something. Why is the control on numbers in the public sector that was brought in because of the financial crash still in place? If an organisation such as a local authority or An Bord Pleanála has the financial means to pay for those staff, why does it have to go cap in hand to get them? Why can it not just state that it needs X number of staff, has the money to fund that and will employ them?