John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

That is the formal process. As the Deputy knows, the Part 8 process can take a while. Rather than getting the city council to start the ball rolling from scratch again, the county council will complete the formal legal process and it is then part of the transfer for the city council to implement whatever the Part 8 is. Amendment No. 100 takes account, at least partially, of the point the Deputy makes in amendment No. 103. We propose to allow the Minister the discretion, if asked by the local authorities, to grant a time period of up to 12 months of an extension to the existing development plan to allow for the drafting of the new development plan. That is not to say it is necessarily up to 12 months; it is just to provide a window for the planners and the councillors considering it, so they can do the thorough work that is involved in drafting county development plans.

In regard to the municipal districts, the municipal district structure does not exist in city authorities in Ireland. I understand the point the Deputy is making in the broader context of municipal districts. Their impact and effectiveness vary greatly from local authority to local authority. Some local authorities have very well embedded, supported and funded municipal districts that operate very successfully. However, in other local authorities the structure is still weak and many of the issues the Deputy noted that should be dealt with at local district level end up going back to the full plenary session of the council. That is a matter we will have to return to in the future.

It is open to Cork City Council, as it is to Dublin City Council, to designate area committees, although these do not have the same powers and functions. All of these sections of the Bill relate to Cork specifically. A decision was taken that in providing for the planning and development of Cork into the future, we should look at Cork city as one entity rather than continuing the current system, where bits of it are in certain municipal districts in the county, with different local area plans. There should be one plan for the city of Cork, regardless of whether there will be different constituent parts of the new city in the future.

There are strong identities in some of the areas the Deputy represents on the south side of Cork city, as there are on the north side. Effectively, urban villages that were in County Cork up to now will be in Cork city. There is a particular issue in regard to Ballincollig, which has traditionally been separate. Through continuous development over the years, Cork city has spread to Ballincollig, and it would be impossible for anyone here to envisage a Cork city in 20 years of which Ballincollig is not an integral part.

I will have to talk to the Minister of State, Deputy English, about the provisions for separate local area plans for some areas which are a very identifiable component of the new extended Cork city. I would be willing to talk to him before Report Stage to find if some leeway can be found in the Planning and Development Act that would allow for a more locally based area plan for specific parts of the newly constituted Cork city.

If possible, the Deputy might leave it with me until Report Stage. I will talk to the Minister of State, Deputy English, to see if it can be included, although it may be that it cannot.