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

In moving amendment No. 3, I will address Government amendments Nos. 3, 22, 47, 54 and 55 first, followed by Opposition amendments Nos. 57 to 59, inclusive, together.

Regarding amendment No. 3, section 2 provides for the necessary definitions of terms used in the Bill. The Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Act 2016 has been enacted since the publication of this Bill. In light of this, a definition of the term "the Act of 2016" is required to be inserted to mean the Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Act 2016.

Amendment No. 22 relates to section 31Y of the Bill dealing with the resignation and removal from office of the planning regulator. It essentially corrects a minor typographical numbering reference to the subsection in the section, replacing an incorrect second reference to subsection (2) and replacing it with a correct reference to subsection (3), thereby listing subsections (1), (2) and (3) correctly and in the proper order.

Amendment No. 47 is a further minor technical amendment to section 31AR of the Bill relating to the regional, spatial and economic strategies, proposing the deletion of an incorrect reference to a "plan" and its replacement with the correct term, "regional, spatial and economic strategy", in order to be consistent with other relevant provisions in the Bill.

Amendments Nos. 54 and 55 are further minor technical amendments to clarify two references in section 31AU of the Bill relating to the subsection of reports by the office of the planning regulator on foot of complaints received by it to the Minister or other named bodies, including the Ombudsman and the Garda, and that such reports concerned are reports on the preliminary examination of complaints by the office of the planning regulator referred to earlier in the section.

Opposition amendment No. 57 relates to the objectives of the national planning framework, as provided for in section 20B of the Bill, which provides that a core objective of the national planning framework should be to establish a broad national plan for the Government for the strategic planning of urban and rural areas. In this regard, Deputy Ryan proposes that the wording be revised to provide that a core objective of the national planning framework, NPF, shall be to provide for the strategic planning and sustainable development of urban and rural areas. I can accept this amendment. I do not have any difficulty with it.

Amendments Nos. 58 and 59 have been ruled out of order so I cannot deal with them.