Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 23 February 2023

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government

General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed)

Mr. Craig McLaren:

We absolutely need something like that. One of the big gaps is that no analysis of what the additional duties would be and what they would mean for staff has been undertaken. There is a need for the Government to consider the Bill and undertake that analysis. As the Deputy stated, we are already in a bad place and we will get into a worse place if there are to be more duties and more things that have to be done. That analysis should be undertaken and, from there, a workforce strategy developed to consider what positions we need and when, and how to attract planners to those positions.