I was contacted by a constituent who had applied for planning permission to build 25 houses in Cavan town. He made the application last January and it was approved by the council in July, but it was appealed by a third party to An Bord Pleanála. The board was due to make a decision on Monday, 12 December, but the man was told that day that the decision would be delayed by three months. I have been told by a planner in Cavan County Council that some decisions take up to a year because of a lack of staff. If the Government is serious about providing additional housing, why has An Bord Pleanála not been resourced properly to deal with appeals so that they are not delayed any longer than they should be? This man's financing will run out within that three months, so he may not be in a position to proceed with the development. We need a properly resourced An Bord Pleanála and designated timeframes for decisions, similar to local authorities, within which decisions must be made.

We are experiencing some problems with An Bord Pleanála, of which I know the Deputy is aware. The medium-term plan is to replace An Bord Pleanála with a new coimisiún pleanála and also to introduce a new planning and development Bill, which I think has been published, that puts in place statutory timelines for decisions, like the Deputy suggested. In the meantime, we are backfilling An Bord Pleanála with additional staff. An interim chairperson has been appointed. The idea is to try to get through those decisions as quickly as possible because, as the Deputy rightly says, it is holding up housing developments and the development of schools, businesses and things that we really need.