The Department may conduct, or appoint a person (referred to in sections 209 and 210 as the “appointed person”) to conduct on its behalf, an assessment of how a council deals with applications for planning permission, and in particular as to the basis on which determinations have been made, the processes by which they have been made and as to whether they have been made in accordance with the local development plan or in conformity with advice given to the council by the Department.

No such assessment is to have regard to a decision made by a council within the period of one year which immediately precedes the assessment being notified under section 209(1).