Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate some changes have been made in an effort to ease the way for certain types of projects to get planning permission. However, that is not enough. We still have good projects supported by the majority of people being endlessly bogged down in the complexities of our current planning system. It is costing us jobs and money. We all know by now how Apple announced plans for a data centre in Denmark around the same time it announced plans for one in Athenry. The Danish one is up and running while a second Apple centre in Denmark is due to commence operations in the second quarter of this year. Two months ago, Google announced plans for another large data centre in southern Denmark. Economists predict it will bring a boost of €740 million to the Danish economy during construction.

There was little chance of Ireland ever being considered for that project in light of Apple's experience here. The Taoiseach should make no mistake. All other major global companies are well aware of Apple’s debacle. Who knows what decisions relating to investments may have been revised as a result? With the uncertainty of Brexit, we cannot afford to lose out on any opportunities to boost the economy. We need an immediate and complete overhaul of our planning system before it can get better.

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