Paula Butterly (Louth, Fine Gael)
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Everybody is agreeing on an awful lot of things today, which is rather unusual. Everybody has agreed on streamlining the planning process. I would like to hear the witnesses' views on how far we go with that streamlining. You will often hear that the biggest problem with planning is objections and the process, from local authority, to An Bord Pleanála, to judicial review and sometimes even beyond, because they might want to introduce a public interest issue and try their hand at the Supreme Court too. Where do we stop? We have issues across the country with social housing. Councillors from the Opposition have blocked, at this stage, hundreds if not thousands of homes. They criticise our policy, while at the same time there have been objections over the years to block actual developments going ahead. Where do we start or stop in the planning streamlining? I would like to hear the witnesses' opinions on that.