Paul Bradford (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to learn from the Minister of State that the guidelines for planning authorities on spatial planning and national roads 2012 appear to be at the centre of this debate. She said she is keeping the guidelines under review. Will she generate or open a new national debate on the guidelines or is it simply a matter of people contacting her directly to make suggestions? Will it be possible to amend the guidelines to try to deal with situations like those I have mentioned?

I note that the Minister of State said that planning authorities may identify stretches of national roads. However, the cases brought to me would not require a policy on a mile, a mile and a half or a two mile stretch of national road; rather, they are very individual issues and problems. Is there a capacity to bring individual cases to the attention of the Minister of State in terms of the guidelines? I know it is not her job and we have moved a long way from a time when the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government was responsible for making the final decisions on planning. It is now a matter for An Bord Pleanála.

If we have views or concerns about individual cases, how the guidelines impact on them and how a particular case should impact on the guidelines from an amendment perspective, can the Minister of State be informed? Can she make recommendations on such cases?