Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 48:

In page 40, to delete all words from and including “(1) Subject” in line 20, down to and including line 37, and substitute the following:

“(1) The following shall be exempted developments for the purposes of this Act—

(a) development consisting of the use of any land for the purpose of agriculture and development consisting of the use for that purpose of any building occupied together with land so used;

(b) development by the council of a county in its functional area, exclusive of any borough or urban district;

(c) development by the corporation of a county or other borough in that borough;

(d) development by the council of an urban district in that district;

(e) development consisting of the carrying out by the corporation of a county or other borough or the council of a county or an urban district of any works required for the construction of a new road or the maintenance or improvement of a road;

(f) development carried out on behalf of, or jointly or in partnership with, a local authority that is a planning authority, pursuant to a contract entered into by the local authority concerned, whether in its capacity as a planning authority or in any other capacity;

(g) development consisting of the carrying out by any local authority or statutory undertaker of any works for the purpose of inspecting, repairing, renewing, altering or removing any sewers, mains, pipes, cables, overhead wires, or other apparatus, including the excavation of any street or other land for that purpose;

(h) development consisting of the carrying out of works for the maintenance, improvement or other alteration of any structure, being works which affect only the interior of the structure or which do not materially affect the external appearance of the structure so as to render the appearance inconsistent with the character of the structure or of neighbouring structures;

(i) development consisting of the thinning, felling and replanting of trees, forests and woodlands, the construction, maintenance and improvement of non-public roads serving forests and woodlands and works ancillary to that development, not including the replacement of broadleaf high forest by conifer species;

(j) development consisting of the use of any structure or other land within the curtilage of a house for any purpose incidental to the enjoyment of the house as such;

(k) development consisting of the use of land for the purposes of a casual trading area (within the meaning of the Casual Trading Act, 1995);

(l) development consisting of the carrying out of any of the works referred to in the Land Reclamation Act, 1949, not being works comprised in the fencing or enclosure of land which has been open to or used by the public within the ten years preceding the date on which the works are commenced.”

The substance of the amendment draws on the feedback received on the proposal to remove exempted development from primary legislation. It appears the Minister intends to deal with exempted development by way of secondary legislation going forward. There is a concern, particularly among the utility providers, that this is one of the elements of the planning system that works very well at local authority level. The utility providers believe it allows them to do significant works, carry out important infrastructural improvements and so on. Will the Minister of State tease out the rationale behind the decision to remove exempted development from primary legislation? I also ask for some clarity on when we might see the secondary legislation. Even if this area is not included in primary legislation, if we could see what the secondary legislation is likely to be, it might allay some of the concerns. It is proposed to remove all of this enabling legislation but people have not been shown what the replacement will be. That is of some concern.