Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)

The Senator has made a fair point, although it is not directly related to the Bill. As planning is a culturally specific activity, An Bord Pleanála and the local authorities have to take care when recruiting staff. Some of the planning staff from outside the State are excellent and very welcome. If they were not available, we would find it difficult to fill vacancies from within the skill pool available to us.

The general point being made by Senator Bannon, which is not relevant to the Bill, is a good one. It is obvious that the planning system is culturally quite specific. I have said on several occasions, for example when speaking in the third level colleges in which students are prepared for the planning process, that it is important that traditional settlement patterns are observed and that the planning system is sensitive to the cultural traditions and settlement patterns which have been observed in this country. I have often made that point to challenge the argument that there are too many one-off houses in the rural countryside. In fact, there are far fewer one-off houses than there were in years gone by. This country has a specific pattern of settlement. We need to get the balance right.

We are straying slightly from the amendment, which proposes to reduce to 12 weeks the period of time in which decisions on planning applications have to be made. I hope, for the reasons I outlined earlier, that the Senator will not pursue the amendment.