Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Again, I thank Deputy Moynihan for raising this important topic today. I concur and I will bring these points back to the Minister of State, Deputy Burke, and his officials in the planning department. There should be uniformity of approach here. Community groups looking to go through the planning process to deliver a community facility should not have different experiences depending on what local authority they are in or the mood or approach of the relevant chief executive, director of services and officials throughout that local authority.

It is, therefore, really important that we support them and that community groups are not necessarily put through the same rigours as big industry or a commercial entity in trying to deliver. Community groups are volunteers. They generally tend to have thrown their own day jobs. Sometimes, the onus on them can be considerable to deliver something that is not for any material gain to themselves but to the broader community. The point the Deputy made is a valid one. I will bring it back to the Minister of State and highlight those points.

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