David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)

The Minister seems to be contradicting himself. He says that he will not include any time target in the legislation, but he says he will include specified targets in the guidelines. He criticises their inclusion in the Bill by saying if they are included, we will end up with a situation like that in the planning area. If he is going to include them in the guidelines, he may be hoist with his own petard when he ends up with the same problem as that in the planning area. The amendment is quite modest and only suggests that every application should be considered within a reasonable timeframe. Therefore, if someone was left waiting a long time, the impetus would be in the Bill to deal with the situation. If the Minister intends including a similar provision in the strategic plan, he can fall back on the primary legislation and say that it was the wish of the Oireachtas that a reasonable timeframe be set.

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