Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)

Louth County Council is almost a facilitator. It speaks to the design team. I raised this issue with the Taoiseach in terms of the need to streamline regulation. We all know the issues that exist in respect of planning. We need a system that can be more agile. While we need checks and balances, that should be possible.

If mistakes are made or issues are seen, they could be addressed in a timely manner. The project could proceed through the process and the problem would still persist and would need to be dealt with in six months. There may be a new planning application, but at that stage we would consider removing parts that have been added in, such as hedges, fencing, pavement or tarmac and other works that need to be done.

At any point in time, we could have a proper and speedy review of what is possible and how quickly we could fix this. There will be traffic chaos, which has been pointed out. There are very simple issues.

The process was probably simpler once upon a time when the school was given responsibility to deliver projects. I am sure there were problems and mistakes in that system, but at least schools did not have to go through three layers. Louth County Council is only one of those layers and then we have the Department, building unit, architects and contractors. This is not working. The process is taking too long.

There are issues in respect of the yard size. I have written to the Minister and will hand the Minister of State a letter later. I ask that she follows up with the Minister. We need to try to deal with this as quickly as possible. This will become a bigger problem very quickly and it will become a more expensive problem. It is an absolute necessity that action is taken.

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