Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I support the Chair in this regard. Obviously, there is a threshold in relation to the volume of spend here. While we cannot go outside our remit, there is an issue here in relation to how that spend is dealt with. Very few people here in the committee know that there was a review done of An Bord Pleanála which has been published, but as far as I remember has never really been looked at or received any airtime. It was a review of the way in which An Bord Pleanála operates. It was nothing to do with decisions. I accept that we can never go there. I agree with that principle. We must ensure there is transparency in relation to how it operates, not in relation to how it comes to its decisions or anything to do with that. People do not know how it operates. I think we would do the public a service by fleshing through how An Bord Pleanála works, why it has to exist and why it has to operate in the manner in which it operates. There is a significant threshold of money here. People need to see how transparently it is being spent.