Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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I thank the witnesses for their presentations. Unfortunately, I had two other meetings this morning and I apologise for being late. I am a former member of Cork City Council, which was very go-ahead in relation to Traveller accommodation. I think we had, and still have, five different sites when an awful lot of other local authorities had nothing at all. One of the problems that has arisen with Traveller accommodation is where a site is designated for, say, 15 residential units and then suddenly that increases dramatically. The local authority is then being reprimanded when in fact it is very difficult to control additional units going in there. How would the witnesses advise a local authority to deal with that issue?

The second issue is about legal aid. I am aware of a situation where people have acquired properties and then totally breached planning and in this case a number of court orders have issued regarding breaches of planning and extensions being added to houses without planning in total breach of every rule. Is Ms Lucey suggesting people would also be entitled to free legal aid in a scenario like that where a local authority had to take action because there was a breach of planning? The court orders were there for over four or five years and it is getting very difficult to enforce them. What is Ms Lucey's view on that? Is she suggesting in the expansion of the legal aid scheme that someone should be entitled to get legal aid to defend a case where a local authority is taking an action due to a breach of planning?