Earlier, the Taoiseach said An Bord Pleanála will help to resolve the housing crisis. Let me tell him that An Bord Pleanála is actually making people homeless. Only 27% of its cases in the first eight months of the year were decided within the statutory 18-week period. I refer to one family out of several in a similar situation who appealed a decision of the board in September 2022. This family was told there would be a decision in January, which was then moved to April. They are now on notice that they will be evicted next month. They have no correspondence from An Bord Pleanála and cannot get an answer to their queries. They acted well in advance of being given notice of eviction. People are being made homeless because the process is so slow. The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage has not addressed this issue. The CEO of An Bord Pleanála appeared before the Committee of Public Accounts and said she was dealing with the issues, there was now a full complement of staff and things would start to move. Things have not moved, however, and this is contributing to the homelessness crisis.

An Bord Pleanála is not working the way it should be. There is no denying that. Its 2022 annual report was approved by the Cabinet today. It showed that fewer than 50% - only about 45%, in fact - of appeals were adjudicated within the statutory timeframe.

Only 27% were decided in that timeframe.

Whether the figure is 27% or 45%, it is bad. I am not going to argue with that. What are we doing about it? A full complement of board members has now been appointed and the board has sanction for 300 additional staff. We know more staff are needed. Today, we published the planning and development Bill 2023, which will make the deadlines for decision statutory. It will no longer be the case that An Bord Pleanála can just look for more information or more time. It will have to make decisions within the specified timeframe.