Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I confirm that I am in Leinster House. I thank the Minister of State for the presentation. I have some straightforward questions. First, will he outline to the committee the origin of the proposal and the rationale behind it? Was it lobbied for by any organisation, be that local authorities or industry? In the first instance, will he give us a little bit of background to it so we understand where it is coming from?

With respect to the loss of revenue for local authorities, has there been an assessment of what the likely loss of revenue will be, either globally across all the local authorities or if there is a breakdown within local authorities? If that is not available to hand, could it be presented to the committee?

While I know the answer to the question, it is important to have it on the record. Will the Minister of State confirm there is no impact from these regulations on any planning requirement that may be required for any of the associated works, that they just relate to the fee structure, but where planning permission would be required, this does not in any way change that and the planning approval requirements would still be in place?