I wish to raise the ongoing challenges presented by Ireland's planning laws, and in particular the problems that are being created in the area of planning in rural Ireland. The most recent high-profile incidence of this is the decision by the Supreme Court, rightly, to reject an application to have the proposed Glanbia factory project halted.

Some of the Minister's Government colleagues have welcomed this Supreme Court decision, as have many others, including me and my Rural Independent Group colleagues, as a victory of common sense against an overzealous and inflexible attitude towards environmental or emissions targets.

The rush to court and the use of judicial reviews around infrastructure planning is creating paralysis in some areas. In many other less well-known cases at a local level, An Bord Pleanála is simply not fulfilling its statutory obligations, in particular when it comes to section 126 of the Planning and Development Act 2000, which states that every appeal is to be determined within 18 weeks. This is not happening. I have no wish to personalise this matter against the staff of An Bord Pleanála. I am sure they are as frustrated as the rest of us with the growing need to assess even the most minor projects against a library shelf of EU regulations. We need a much more simplified and straightforward system because the one we have is simply not working, is creating frustration and is jeopardising much-needed investment and job creation in many areas.

I will refer to the case of Banagher Chilling in my constituency, a multi-million euro investment that would offer vital price competition to beef farmers. In January 2021, An Bord Pleanála initially confirmed that it was not in a position to determine whether the inspector's report, which was due by 4 January 2021, would be completed. That was bad enough, but the situation became worse. In March 2021, it was confirmed to me that An Bord Pleanála had yet to receive the report despite the new deadline of 1 March having come and gone. Fast forward to September 2021, and An Bord Pleanála was still not in a position to confirm when the inspector would submit the report on the appeal. In January 2022, I was told that the report would definitely be ready within two weeks, yet it is almost the end of February and there is still no sign of the report. That is a far cry from 18 weeks. We must address this urgently because An Bord Pleanála is not upholding the statutory planning timeframe within which decisions are due. This is also creating frustration and jeopardising much-needed investment and jobs.

I thank Deputy Nolan for raising these issues regarding our planning system. We all acknowledge the need for a fit-for-purpose planning system in our country for the development of homes, industry and public infrastructure. As the Deputy will be aware, we have now adopted a national development plan out to 2030 that involves public expenditure of €165 billion across all of the main areas, including building the homes we need, building our public transport and road infrastructure, introducing climate action measures and investing in enterprises, etc.

Having a planning system that is fair and acts in a timely fashion is absolutely fundamental to the achievement of those objectives. That is why the Deputy will no doubt be aware of the initiative being led by the Attorney General. It is the first of the its kind. He and a team of dedicated experts are re-examining the entire planning legislative framework with a view to bringing forward new legislation that the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, will bring to the Government over the period ahead.

The idea is to make our system more efficient and reduce the level of legal risk. People are entitled to object and bring judicial reviews, but we certainly do not want major projects of regional or national importance to end up before the courts and have planning permission rescinded on a legal point of law. The planning system has to be robust and, ultimately, be vindicated in the great majority of instances where such legal challenges are taken.

We also do not want frivolous or vexatious objections to developments across the country that are badly needed and which must take place. Along with the Taoiseach and the Government as a whole, I have welcomed the decision in respect of the judicial review taken in the Glanbia case.

People who took that case had a right to bring it. It has now gone through due process. It has been concluded and we welcome it. We all acknowledge that our agriculture industry is on a journey. It is up for that journey. Embracing sustainability, dealing with the climate action issues and challenges with reducing emissions and so on is vital. The Deputy mentioned the issue of rural and one-off homes. The evidence points to the strong delivery of new homes in rural Ireland in recent years. Planning permission has been granted for more than 28,000 rural houses in the five years to the end of quarter 3 last year. About 80% of that number was actually built. The latest CSO figures indicated a 38% increase in permissions for one-off houses in the year to the end of September 2021 when compared with the previous year. It went up by about 5,000 to 7,000. That is not evidence of a system that is completely broken when it comes to building one-off homes. The number is increasingly significantly. There is a balance to be struck between ensuring that developments are sustainable, proportionate and suitable to the area in which they take place.

I thank the Minister for his response. I welcome that the Attorney General is examining the matter. I ask for urgency about it. We need to ensure that we have a robust, fair, balanced system in place as quickly as possible. I have seen first-hand in my own constituency that the delays are impeding investment and indeed could put off future investment coming into Laois-Offaly because of this multi-million factory being place in the position it is being placed in and the time delays that are involved. The Minister also mentioned rural housing. I have seen first-hand that many of those applicants are being left in limbo because An Bord Pleanála is not coming back in a timely manner with a decision about planning for one-off housing. That issue needs to be dealt with. I am particularly concerned with the lack of balance for enterprise and environment. We need to ensure that there is balance. I can see first-hand that it is tipping one way. I feel that there needs to be more common sense and pragmatism. We cannot stand here and talk about job creation if we are being impeded and obstructed all the time by groups such as An Taisce.

The issues that the Deputy raises are really important when it comes to the Government and the country meeting the objective of balanced regional development. We want to see such balanced regional development. It is core to the Project Ireland 2040 strategy, where the majority of growth in the population of Ireland over the next 20 years, which is estimated to be growth of about 1 million people, will be outside Dublin. Ensuring that we are able to deliver infrastructure in a timely manner is central to that, including flood schemes and other vital public infrastructure. We want An Bord Pleanála to meet the statutory deadlines. I will raise the issue that the Deputy has raised with the Minister, Deputy O'Brien. Updated rural housing guidelines are being prepared to ensure consistency with current requirements and legislation at national and EU level, subject to requirements for periods of public consultation and ensuring compliance with environmental legislation, which will inform the timeframe. The guidelines will be prepared in draft during this quarter of the current year. In the next month to six weeks, the Minister expects to be in a position to bring those forward.