Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael)

This is getting to the point made by Senator O'Donovan a few moments ago with regard to transferring powers to An Bord Pleanála. The Minister is responsible for policy and in view of this the proposal to transfer powers to An Bord Pleanála is outrageous. It is a negation of responsibility. At least if the Minister is responsible we in the Oireachtas can hold him or her accountable and we have some type of transparency as opposed to if we hand power over to an anonymous body such as An Bord Pleanála.

We have all had our problems with An Bord Pleanála through the years. It would be a retrograde step to hand over these powers to the board. The Minister or the local authority should retain the responsibilities in this regard. I am opposed to handing over these responsibilities to An Bord Pleanála.