Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is a delay, and the delay may well be justified in order to produce a good plan.However, it is a delay. To be clear, there is a difference in the date on which a new plan will start. It is an extension at a point at which we face multiple crises. We face the Covid-19 crisis, but we also face other crises, such as climate, for example. In that context, this has been brought through as something that is needed, because of an exceptional circumstance. It should be treated in that context as having to meet very high standards, and not normal standards. I am not saying it is not consistent, but that the circumstances are not usual. That is why the provisions in other parts of the planning Act in relation to the normal run events are perhaps not appropriate.