Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 67:

In page 46, to delete lines 34 to 38 and substitute the following:

“ “(ka) facilitating the making and processing by electronic means of—(i) planning applications, appeals, referrals, applications for approval, submissions and consents under this Act, and

(ii) the payment of fees, the issuing of decisions and setting out of requirements to which subparagraph (i) relates;”.

I will address my two other amendments, amendment Nos. 70 and 78, with amendment No. 67. These three amendments essentially relate to the changes in the principal Act with regard to the forthcoming introduction of e-planning, facilitating the online submission of planning applications and appeals, and other related matters by electronic means.

Amendment No. 67 is a minor textual amendment to improve the text in section 9 of the Bill relating to the regulation which gives powers to the Minister for the purposes of facilitating e-planning, allowing for the submission of planning applications and appeals, as well as referrals and submissions, to the board, and allowing any associated fees to be made electronically.

Amendment No. 70 enhances the provisions of section 38 of the principal Act and provides for development documents in planning decisions to be placed on the planning authorities' websites, while also being made available for purchase and inspection at the office of the planning authority.

Finally, amendment No. 78 supplements the other two amendments in this grouping by amending section 248 of the principal Act which relates to the provision of planning information and documentation in electronic form. The adoption of this amendment will make it administratively easier to move to automation and to make more efficient use of electronic communication in planning matters. I also wish to signal that I propose to bring forward further Government amendments at Dáil Report Stage in order to further enhance and supplement the e-planning provisions already in the Bill.

In respect of Deputy Coppinger's questions, there is an element of the legislation, which I think we will come to later, whereby if a developer has, for example, a record of not finishing estates properly, that can be factored in by a planning authority as a reason for not granting a certain developer's planning application. In other words, if the developer has a consistent record of poorly finishing estates, not fulfilling the terms and conditions of planning permissions, and so on, that record is factored in in terms of the appropriateness of granting planning to that person for building an estate in future. I think that is new.

We need to make sure that is not abused either. If someone had a genuine reason for going bust, particularly in the last ten years, while trying to finish out an estate and is now back again and building properly, we have to be sure that consideration is not unfair. At the same time it needs to be factored in and, of course, it can be tested and appealed to An Bord Pleanála.

We had a discussion earlier in respect of declarations of conflicts of interests by a councillor that may be involved in decision making and so on. There is also a section in the Bill relating to conflicts of interests in terms of applicants. I will come back to the Deputy but I think those issues are catered for in the legislation.