Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As I have said, the Minister of State does not understand the difficulty the local authorities are in or the position of the County and City Management Association, CCMA. The CCMA was of the understanding that there was a pot of approximately €500 million which would get them over the first three months - that is the €260 million - but also that they could plan for the future because they expected that the €250 million from the start-up grant would be used as either a direct rates waiver or a contribution towards rates. Managers are now trying to plan services for June, July, August and September but they have no certainty on funding. That affects every local authority in the State. Dublin City Council has a projected shortfall of €150 million. For Donegal County Council the figure is €4 million and for Wexford it is €4.5 million. I am naming those although they are not my own local authority because these figures show the scale of the problem. Managers need certainty and the sooner the Government can provide that, the better.

I would also appreciate if the Minister of State would come back to me very briefly, in the half a minute remaining before my colleagues come in with their allocated time, on the need to urgently review the progress of co-living planning applications, which in my view should be prohibited. In addition, is it intended to extend the deadline for submissions on planning applications? Many people are unable to travel to their local authorities or to An Bord Pleanála to view, for example, strategic housing development applications and do not have access to files online. This is a legal requirement for proper consultation. The Minister of State needs to guarantee that this will happen.

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