Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I was only calling it red tape because of some other things which came up at the previous meeting last week on this committee. One of the things which was brought up was an application form for a grant, a service, housing in the local authority, a health service or whatever the case may be, where the applicant had to make an application consisting of about 26 or 27 pages followed by accompanying documentation. I remember being in this committee quite a number of years ago when it was decided by the politicians that there were far too many pages to be dealt with and hoops to be jumped through.

It was delaying the system and costing more because it took more people more time to assess the pages that were added to it, as an example. The fact of the matter is that the politicians were right. The thing moved ahead much more smoothly and quickly, and was able to respond much more quickly to the burning issue at that particular time, which was housing. Some of the same issues remain to this day.