Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail)

I wish to express my deep concern about the operations of a body that usurps its powers and functions regularly, that is, An Taisce. It is not subject to freedom of information requests and gets mandatory notice of every rural planning application in Ireland. It had the audacity recently to challenge the autonomy of Cork County Council and its manager in respect of that organisation's policy on one-off housing, which challenge was substantially and unequivocally rebuffed by An Bord Pleanála. There is no transparency. There is a Chinese wall of secrecy around the organisation. It has many members in west Cork, yet there is never a public meeting or an AGM. No one can ascertain the membership of this body.