Joe McHugh (Fine Gael)

—about addressing planning. Another of the party's Ministers, Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív, got 20 minutes on the "Six One News". Bryan Dobson travelled to Galway to talk about how they were going to address the problems in planning, especially in rural areas. However, I am bemused by the recent stealth tax announced by the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Cullen, as in a rural area, for a 2,000 square foot house, there will be a stealth tax of €13,000. How is that going to ease the pressures of planning? We need the Minister here because between now and the March deadline for these development charges, we will have a glut of planning applications being submitted to all local authorities which do not have the resources to deal with them.