John Cummins (Waterford, Fine Gael)

I reiterate that it is a priority in my Department. My officials and I have been working on this for a considerable period of time. I want to ensure that we get these revised guidelines right. I take public consultation seriously. There was public consultation over the summer on exempted development and over 920 submissions were received. I have reviewed all of those so I take on board what has come in. It helps formulate policy. To get to a point of having a draft, we have to ensure that they are as accurate and complete as possible and this is what my officials have been working extensively on. I hope we will be in a position to publish those in the not-too-distant future but I want to get it right.

See this speech in context