Plans for a strategic housing development and apartment blocks at Bessborough mother and baby institution have been lodged. More than 900 children died while in the care of nuns at Bessborough and the burial place of more than 800 of those children is still unknown. The proposed development is to be built on an area that has been documented as a children's burial ground. Needless to say, this simply cannot go ahead. The State has a history of facilitating the worst kinds of abuse and a very recent history of unnecessarily compounding the suffering caused by that abuse. The Cork Survivors and Supporters Alliance wants the planning applications withdrawn pending further investigation. Will the Taoiseach intervene immediately to ensure this?

On the same issue, MWB Two Limited is proposing the construction of 246 units. I have been talking to survivors and supporters who are very concerned there will be no proper investigation and that nothing will commence now. They are not against the development but it is a fact they have not been given a spare chance on this. They are asking whether An Bord Pleanála can defer the application. I welcome that the Minister has committed to publishing the sixth and final report on the week of 11 January next year. Could this be suspended until we see what is actually in the final report? That would give fairness to both the developers and survivors.

I know the Minister, Deputy Roderic O'Gorman, has met with the survivors in this case. I met with the survivors as well and the campaign group around Bessborough prior to this planning application going in, and my office has been in contact with them subsequent to the planning application going in. Obviously, it is a matter for An Bord Pleanála to decide on the application.

However, it seems to me that the application is close to, if not on, the burial site itself, which is unacceptable. One cannot be building on a burial site. Initially, the survivors were anxious that it would be preserved as a burial site, which to me was a reasonable position to put forward. This relates to the Bessborough mother and baby home. There are other issues also. Given the low-lying nature of the land and its proximity to the shore, I am not clear that it is ideal territory for housing in any event but in terms of the sensitivity of the issue and the degree to which the survivors have approached this in a measured way from the very beginning of our engagement with them, I do not believe this is acceptable at all.

On that basis, will the Taoiseach intervene?

I cannot intervene with a planning authority. I have made my views known but I am not An Bord Pleanála. An Bord Pleanála will exercise its functions in regard to the planning Act.