Ms O'Rourke:

The definition of the word "local" is also strange. There is an Army barracks in Athlone; a barracks cannot be five miles outside the town in a rural area. An applicant whom I know is serving his country in the Defence Forces, with his father and mother living in rural Westmeath. He wishes to build on a site his father gave him but he has been told he is not involved in farming. He cannot be involved in farming, he is in the Army and the barracks is in Athlone, where we are all going tomorrow to wave goodbye to our fine forces going to the Lebanon. The Minister's name is being taken in vain when people talk about the sustainable rural guidelines.

Ms O'Rourke:

I do not like the idea that we are all herded into settlements. We had that with the Danes and the Vikings and I am not keen on what they left behind. Also, there are no sites. Those who live in a settlement and have a site increase the price and no one can buy it.

Ms O'Rourke:

There is much work to be done but I do not know how to go about it. We had great hopes that our new manager would change things. He has shown a more open attitude to planning but he is the manager and the planners are the planners. I have a vision of planners getting up in the morning, asking how many times they would say "No" that day. Some are better at it than others.