John Cummins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This is a very finely balanced measure. The points Senator Boyhan made are valid. Sometimes further information requests enable a development to get approval and planning. Oftentimes, however, such requests are used to extend the process, an issue I raised on Second Stage when I said that further information requests were being made by local authorities around the country to request information that was already in files. That was a result of what I think is a lack of resources in terms of personnel within local authority planning sections.

I appreciate what is being done here in terms of trying to restrict that further information element. To counter that, the pre-planning approach in the Bill is extensive and involves a two-stage process. If done right and properly, that should flag any issue in a development. That is different to any other process. We have to consider this in the context of what we are trying to do at that stage in order to pre-empt anything that will come subsequently. While I am reluctant to restrict, I also see the benefit of doing so on the basis of what has been raised extensively at the pre-planning stage.