David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

It has been said that Fingal County Council has had nearly a year and it has been able to address these situations. Whatever about the question of it having the talent or expertise, it is possible that over the course of the year, it has managed to scrape up some talent or expertise and has hired people and so on.However, there is no possibility that it can answer the questions about the fact that it is the planning authority. That is a classic conflict of interest, as the county council itself pointed out. It is easy enough to state that there has been a change in position since the issuing of the first letter, but I would like somebody to explain how on earth Fingal County Council can alter its position with regard to planning. There is a classic conflict of interest. The county council laid out in its first letter that there was a conflict of interest and it was not the right organisation to be noise regulator. What has changed within Fingal County Council to allow it to now state that there is no conflict of interest? The conflict of interest was there and the situation has not changed. The conflict of interest must, therefore, remain and Fingal County Council is lying about it.