Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Amendment No. 257 is in a similar vein to amendments Nos. 255 and 256.

The purpose of this amendment to section 312(1) is to more precisely provide for the construction of references to "a development plan or the development plan" as being references to the national marine planning framework in respect of a maritime site. In effect, the listed relevant provisions at Part II of Schedule 9 are where, in relation to a maritime site, “development plan” will be read as meaning the national marine planning framework.

The purpose of amendment No. 258 is to confirm that this section applies to development wholly or partly in the outer maritime area. This ensures that for the purposes of a section 5 referral - declaration on exempted development - An Bord Pleanála is not confined to considering only that part of a proposed development that is situated in the outer maritime area. This is purely an avoidance of doubt measure and it will be up to the applicant to determine what question is being asked of either the board or a relevant coastal planning authority.

Amendment No. 259 is a technical, drafting amendment, which seeks to insert, at the commencement of section 317(1) "Subject to section 289," before "Part X". The reason for this is that the board has already been granted its screening powers under section 289 and the initiated text would have resulted in a doubling up of those provisions.

Amendment 260 is a technical, drafting amendment, the purpose of which is to delete "a planning authority" and substitute "planning authority". There is no other material impact.

The purpose of amendment No. 261 is, for technical and drafting reasons, to provide that 'excluded provisions' are expanded to include the listed sections. These references need to be excluded for procedural reasons as follows: section 175 refers to local authority development and is not needed here; section 173(1) and (2) refer to appeals and are not relevant to Chapter III; section 173C(9) relates to applications to the coastal planning authority and are not relevant to Chapter III and section 174(1) and (2) already refer to the board appropriately and are not needed. Similarly, the references to section 172 are necessary as the board is already appropriately referenced here already.

Amendment No. 262 inserts a new section 320 into the Bill. The related amendment No. 263 seeks to delete the existing sections. For clarity, I will deal amendment No. 263 separately. Effectively, these new sections provide coastal planning authorities and the board the power to consult with the MARA with respect to the eligibility of the applicant to apply for planning permission in the first instance, but it is not limited to this. The reason for this is that the planning authorities need to be sure the applicant is eligible to apply for permission having regard to the MAC requirements. Moreover, there may be specific conditions to the relevant MAC that the planning authorities should be aware of when assessing the applications. This amendment is relatively straightforward. I am sure the Deputies will agree it is a useful provision.

I am dealing with amendment No. 304 with amendment No. 263 as they are related and should be read together for completeness.