Paddy Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for accepting the amendment, which mainly came from this House. This will make the Bill better and will give local authorities and local representatives an opportunity to voice their opinions on particular planning applications that are greater than 100 houses in size. This is a worthwhile amendment and I thank the Minister of State for it.

I hope the consultation with the councillors will be meaningful. In the past, we have seen Bills that proposed that Members of the Oireachtas would consult and have meetings with local authorities, but many of them have fallen away and many others have not been great. In lots of cases, one would wonder if some of the meetings between the local authorities and Members were at all worthwhile. I hope that the consultation with local authorities will be meaningful and not just a window-dressing exercise and that local authority members will have the opportunity to say what they feel on planning applications.