Soon, no one will be able to cry halt

DICK Roche’s plan for a special division of An Bord Pleanála to speed up approvals for major infrastructure is an unwarranted attack on the legitimate rights of people to oppose large projects.

If Mr Roche gets his way, big business will win and the little man will lose out. That is because it is private business that will be building, and in most cases operating, the infrastructure through PPPs (public-private partnerships).

Should Mr Roche get his way and this bill becomes law, the scope for people to lodge objections to infrastructure dumping will be considerably reduced.