Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)

I am always cognisant that An Bord Pleanála is a quasi-judicial body and that it must carefully evaluate the case before it. For many, the board is the final adjudicator on their application or on an application in which they take an interest. The Bill introduces more flexibility to ramp up the staffing of the board at a time when it has a lot of cases or, conversely, when the demand is not as great. This introduction of greater flexibility to the board will result in more timely decision making, but I would be cautious on the issue of laying down a guillotine by which decisions would be made. The board has an objective target of 18 weeks and this was achieved in 60% of cases.