Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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Information on how often these provisions are being used and the types and sizes of applications involved would be relevant to our consideration. Is there a pattern of certain local authorities granting by default more often than others? If so, does that point to a resource issue in some local authorities or to a lack of priority being given to this issue in some local authorities? I am concerned about the granting of licences by default. We had a good discussion earlier on Deputy Matthews's amendments. Very good points were made about licensing and how we need to improve things to minimise visual clutter, to deal with unnecessary obstacles for disabled people and to ensure the use of shared structures, where appropriate. If licences are granted by default, none of those issues will come into play. The licence will simply be granted by default. The important issues we raised will not be addressed as we want them to be if licences are granted by default.

On a related issue, the cost to the public when licences are granted and reinstatement is not to a high enough standard is certainly an issue. I have seen this happen a lot over the years. Reinstatements are done but they are often partial reinstatements and, a year or two later, you can literally see the line of where the reinstatement was carried out having sunken or fallen or where cracks are emerging. At that point, where the reinstatement carried out on foot of the licence issued is not of a sufficient standard, the local authority does a full resurfacing at considerable expense to the public. What provisions or safeguards are there in this Bill to ensure this poor practice, whereby the local authority and the public effectively pick up the bill for a high-quality reinstatement, sometimes a couple of years later, is not allowed to continue? Will the Minister of State comment on that or share his views on it? That would be useful.