Brian Leddin (Limerick City, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I support Deputy Matthews's comments. I welcome the amendment. There might be an opportunity to go a bit further. Electric bikes and cargo bikes are electric vehicles as well. We could get into that space. Deputy Matthews talked about smaller and lighter vehicles. The main driving force - pardon the pun - with respect to vehicular transport should be the smaller, the lighter and the slower. There are all kinds of very good reasons to go in that direction and I believe we can go a little bit further here. If the Minister is agreeable, we might come back with some proposals on Report Stage.

In this section, section 45, there is an interesting part on An Bord Pleanála. It states that it "shall approve a scheme, or a proposed road development, that contravenes materially any development plan or any local area plan [...] only if it considers that one of the following is the case:" before listing four scenarios, any one of which can apply. The first is that "the scheme or proposed road development is of strategic, regional or national importance". The second is that "there are conflicting objectives in the development plan or the objectives are not clearly stated, insofar as the scheme or proposed road development is concerned". The third relates to the Dublin Transport Authority Act 2008, the regional, spatial and economic strategy for the area and any statutory obligations therein. The fourth is that "the scheme or proposed road development should be approved having regard to the pattern of development, and planning permissions granted, in the area since the making of the development plan." It seems that there is very wide scope for this to be misinterpreted or applied in a way that is not intended, especially when one considers the stories around An Bord Pleanála in recent weeks. With the way An Bord Pleanála is set up, a great deal of power is vested in very few people. It seems that this section might cause some difficulty for Ministers down the line. It should be tightened up so that its intent, which I believe relates to BusConnects, is clear before the legislation is passed by the Houses.