I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Bill. There are certainly constructive and long-overdue elements within this legislation, particularly the reforms proposed around judicial reviews. For far too long, communities, local authorities and applicants have been trapped in cycles of chronic delay - delays that frequently extend into years. We all know of cases where judicial review has been used not as genuine oversight but as a tool for procedural abuse of the courts. Anything that brings greater clarity, tighter timelines and more predictable outcomes is certainly welcome. I also want to address the multiple sections of the Bill that amend the Planning and Development Act 2000 to introduce a new planning designation of key towns. As I read them, these sections appear to outline how certain towns will receive prioritised treatment in development plans, investment strategies and planning decision-making. While the concept may have merit in regard to balanced regional development, I must raise a very direct concern on behalf of many small towns and villages across my county of Offaly and the wider midlands area. We cannot allow a situation where preferential treatment for designated key towns ends up diverting resources, planning capacity or infrastructural investment away from the smaller communities, communities with populations under 10,000 that already struggle to secure basic services and development certainty. Will the Minister of State provide clarity? Will these sections create a two-tier planning system? We certainly do not want to make our planning system any more frustrating, bureaucratic or unfair than it already it is. Will smaller towns and villages be disadvantaged in favour of the key designated towns and what safeguards will be put in place to ensure rural communities are not left behind? Counties like Offaly depend on balanced development, not concentrated development. These sections must not become a mechanism that unintentionally sidelines rural Ireland or disadvantages rural Ireland in any way. While the Bill seeks to reduce delays in planning processes, I must contrast that ambition with the massive and escalating backlog within Tailte Éireann, an issue I have repeatedly exposed through parliamentary questions. We are all given an Oireachtas email to correspond with Tailte Éireann, but, as far as I can see, it is an absolute waste of time. In the past few weeks, I have sent at least four issues to Tailte Éireann. These were genuine issues relating to businesses, in the context of their registration, and to elderly people who want to sell their properties and move into a town. Both process are affected by delays. The stock response seems to be to get the lodging party to expedite their case. If a TD is already informing those involved of the circumstances and outlining genuine reasons relating to an elderly person's well-being and health and stating that they want to get their registration finalised, what is the point of telling us to go to the solicitor again? Is that not creating more of a maze and a bureaucratic mess? I am fed up contacting Tailte Éireann. I ask the Minister of State to intervene urgently with it. I am not happy at all with the responses I am getting. I feel I am being fobbed off. What is happening is a cop-out. Registrations should not take three years to complete. There is something seriously wrong if they are taking that long. What is happening is totally unacceptable. I have several cases, as I said. I was approached by a business that needs to expand as a matter of urgency. It is tied up in this. I have several elderly constituents who are also tied up in this. I am asking for urgent intervention with Tailte Éireann because, in my view, it does not seem to be fit for purpose. This Bill seeks to reduce delays I welcome that, but if we are serious about doing so, we need to improve efficiency as well. That is why I feel that the reins need to be taken and that action taken in respect of Tailte Éireann. The data provided to me also confirm a rapid and exponential build-up in property registration delays, as I have already outlined. I have confirmed already that for 2025 alone, over 50,000 applications remain pending. That is disgraceful. What message is that sending out to businesses or even companies looking to come in here to invest. What sort of a message is that sending out? That is a logjam that should not be there. Across the years, arrears now exceed 90,000 applications. This backlog has seriously delayed property transactions, agricultural transfers, conveyancing and housing delivery and has had a direct impact on market efficiency across Ireland. It is also damaging our reputation in respect of companies or businesses trying to expand or invest, when they see this. This has to be sorted out. I accept that some steps have been taken in regard to fully staffing Tailte Éireann registration team and accelerated recruitment, but I, as a TD, I am not seeing the benefits. There is no point in giving us an email address for Tailte Éireann if it is not going to give us proper responses. There certainly needs to be change in that regard. The figures speak for themselves. They are the facts. The backlog that has escalated dramatically and that continues to impose uncertainty and delay on families, farmers, solicitors and businesses is totally unacceptable. There should not be a backlog. If we are serious about tackling delays in our planning system, then we must also be serious about tackling delays in the property registration system. One cannot function without the other. While we are discussing planning reform, I have to take the opportunity to highlight the deeply distressing situation facing families in Stonestown, Cloghan, County Offaly, in terms of a wind farm development. Those families have been living through what can only be described as mental and physical torture arising from excessive wind turbine noise, vibration and operational practices. I raised this issue here in the Dáil a number of times. Those families need to be listened to. Their health is suffering. I met the families involved. They are young couples, and they and their families are suffering terribly as a result of what is happening in the context of a wind farm that was imposed on them and that they did not want. I have reviewed the noise diaries kept by the affected families. To say that they are harrowing is an understatement. They provide a harrowing record of the families' suffering, The constant humming, a heavy vibration throughout their houses and nights of relative quiet while testing equipment is present, followed by a sudden return to a roaring noise once the equipment is removed. That seems to be what is happening. These families are enduring sleep deprivation, physical pain, emotional distress and severe disruption to their lives. They have been left waiting almost six months for a basic communication from Statkraft's contractors. It is not good enough. There should be respect given where, if there are health issues and concerns, then immediately a wind farm should be told to stop its operation. There are serious health concerns. I call on the Ministers to intervene in that case. It really is a public health failure that has been enabled by weak enforcement and inconsistent monitoring. I will continue to raise this matter on behalf of the families of Stonestown in Cloghan with the Minister, the EPA and Offaly County Council. No family in Ireland should be subjected to what these families are being subjected to in Stonestown. While I welcome aspects of the planning Bill, particularly the judicial review reforms, I must emphasise that planning reform cannot be selective. It has to be cohesive and ensure that proper practices, procedures and agencies are operating efficiently. I refer, in particular, to Tailte Éireann, which is not fit for purpose. There needs to be something done there. The Bill cannot focus on one part of the system while ignoring others. It cannot prioritise key towns while leaving small towns and villages in rural Ireland behind and it cannot claim to reduce delays while thousands remain stuck - in what should be a simple registration process - in a backlog that has totally spiralled out of control. We need a planning system that is fair, efficient, transparent and responsive, and that also collaborates properly with TDs. We are sick of stock answers. I will not be accepting any more stock answers. We need a registration system that is a properly resourced and functional system and we need an enforcement system that protects people. I look forward to the Minister of State's clarification regarding section 11 and its implications for rural Ireland in the context of the priority towns. My county of Offaly has been disadvantaged. We have not seen enough investment or balanced regional development, and, no more than any other county in the State, we need to be treated fairly.

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