Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-25
============================================================

Micheál Martin (FF), Cork South-Central

Coming out of the weeds, or the mud, maybe, what the Deputy is talking about is the overarching planning framework that governs development in the country, the extraction of stone from quarries or the creation of quarries, or indeed other environmental legislation, but I am not quite clear on the specifics of what he is actually seeking. Let us start from the fundamental premise that we do need a planning framework. We need a sustainable planning framework and we need sustainability. That is the basic position we come from. We then have to be pragmatic, balanced, efficient and effective in the deployment of those planning laws. There has to be timely consideration of planning applications and we have to do everything we possibly can to reduce costs.
The biggest cause of the inflationary pressures of the past number of years was the post-Covid period where supply chains had broken down and there was an inflationary surge, and the impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent energy crisis that emerged. We had very significant inflationary pressures which then impacted the construction industry in particular.
We have resourced An Coimisiún Pleanála very significantly and it would acknowledge that. It has now created timelines for any planning applications. In many cases, it is now beginning to get close to meeting those timelines. We have also substantially resourced the National Parks and Wildlife Service, NPWS, in respect of its obligations. The European Union directives on the habitats directive and on environmental law generally and consents are there. They are real. They can be judicially reviewed at any time and they can be contested. The role of the planning authority is to make sure that when decisions are taken, both at local authority level and at An Coimisiún Pleanála level, they are robust, resilient decisions that can stand the test of any potential legal challenge. That is a reality. You cannot take shortcuts in respect of the EU directives.
The European Union is looking at simplification of those directives and of the environmental obligations. It is examining those. I have made the case to Europe that we need to be far more pragmatic in terms of how some of these apply. The balance has to be struck between a responsible approach to sustainability and a pragmatic one as well, and best practice from observing what is going on in other jurisdictions close to us as well to make sure we are doing it in a balanced and effective way. I have not had a submission from the quarry industry. Perhaps others in different Departments have but I would gladly receive one and engage with the industry to discuss it.

---

Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-25/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:41+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-25