John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

The Deputy is correct. As part of the monitoring and review arrangements set out in my Department's circular, each planning authority was advised to make available to the public their policy on taking in charge. They were to publish it on their website and continue to report on it to the elected members, which is an important aspect, on a regular basis or at least on one occasion annually. Planning authorities were not requested to report to my Department on their responses to the policy advice. Accordingly, the information requested is not available in my Department.

This is where we must strike a balance between micro-managing and allowing local authorities and the elected representatives to get on with their business. They are to report back to the elected representatives. Many of the local authorities are now Opposition controlled and that is where the accountability lies.

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