No. The deputy chairman of An Bord Pleanála has stepped aside temporarily. He has admitted to what he says is an inadvertent conflict of interest. There are other allegations of conflict of interest reported in the media and under investigation. Given the centrality of An Bord Pleanála to the planning system and how important it is in the planning process, will the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage come to the Dáil to make a statement on this?

In view of what the Taoiseach said in regard to transport, and the fact that not all the private transport companies can avail of the lovely, sweet 20% reduction - now 50% reduction in some cases - for transport services in cities and between cities, what about the people of rural Ireland? Are they going to have to walk? The Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, is failing to come to talk to us. He is not turning up tonight up for a Topical Issue debate on it. We need a debate in the House about the discrimination against rural dwellers. It is shocking. This is in the transport area. Any student from my constituency who is depending on JJ Kavanagh and Sons or any other provider cannot get the reduction. It is totally unfair and discriminatory and I hope someone challenges it in the courts. The Minister's people are from Tipperary and he should be ashamed of himself for the way he is excluding large portions of the country and not allowing people there to have fair access to transport, education and all other services. It is totally discriminatory and we need a debate on it.

I concur with the call to have a discussion on the situation in An Bord Pleanála. The fact that the deputy chairman has had to step aside as an investigation and audit take place throws up very serious questions over the governance and integrity of the board. I believe there are deeper questions to do with the ridiculous situation whereby a quorum of only three is required to deal with appeals, which means, in essence, two people can decide. We have constant situations of planning inspectors being overridden by a tiny number of people on the board. Then we have this situation with the deputy chairman.

We therefore need a serious discussion about the implications of what has just happened at An Bord Pleanála.

Deputy Cian O'Callaghan, to be fair, raised this issue last week in the Dáil. I think Deputy Ó Broin raised it also. The Minister responded on that occasion in the Dáil. Separate from the allegations that had been made, the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, has also been made aware of correspondence between the deputy chairman of An Bord Pleanála, Mr. Paul Hyde, and the board secretary, which was brought to the attention of the Minister's Department by the chairperson of An Bord Pleanála. The concerns about a conflict of interest disclosed by Mr. Hyde on 3 May 2022 relate to a meeting in 2021 and a board decision. Mr. Hyde states in his correspondence that he became aware of the conflict of interest only on 28 April 2022. The Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, requested a report from the chairperson of An Bord Pleanála when he became aware of this matter on 6 May 2022. The chairperson responded to the Minister on Monday, 9 May, that Mr. Hyde had agreed to absent himself from his duties as deputy chairperson for the time being on a strictly without-prejudice basis, pending completion of the chairperson's analysis of the matters raised. In this context Mr. Hyde will not be in attendance in the board's offices or have access to the board's electronic systems or documentation, and his case files have been reassigned to ensure the efficient discharge of the functions of the board. As the House will know, the Minister has appointed Mr. Remy Farrell to conduct an examination of this issue. In fairness, it was not envisaged that there would be a statement on the matter on this week's Dáil schedule. I think we should await the outcome of the examination of the matter. Then, by all means, we can have a debate on the matter and the Minister can come before the House to discuss it.

In response to Deputy Mattie McGrath's points, there is to be a debate on agriculture on Thursday.