Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Taoiseach should be producing the alternative evidence, not just telling us to consider the counterfactual.

The Taoiseach should have that evidence. This was raised yesterday by Deputy Boyd Barrett. I accept that the Oireachtas acted in good faith but we were wrong and we should now go back on the decision and revert to the local authority model. Builders on the ground have told me that they never had a problem with timelines under the local authority model but that capacity in An Bord Pleanála was always an issue. This issue needs to be revisited. The Taoiseach cannot remain in denial all of the time. He must listen to good quality research, whether it comes from academia or journalists, which points out failures in something which the Oireachtas, in good faith, believed would work but which, unfortunately, has not worked.

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