Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

This amendment and a number of amendments that are grouped together in this deal with what are known in the current Act as section 5 declarations. They provide a service for people to seek a declaration from the planning authorities as to whether something is or is not development, and if it is development whether it is exempted or not. We had quite a lengthy discussion on this in the prelegislative scrutiny sessions and in various other sessions with other representative groups. I note during the PSL sessions that it was suggested that what it has turned out to be was never the intended purpose of section 5. However, whether it was intended or not, some very positive public participation has entered into the planning system by use of a section 5 declaration which has resulted in very positive outcomes. I know we always talk about unintended consequences. Sometimes those can be beneficial and can be good. What the current Bill seeks to do is to remove the service for somebody or the option for any person to seek a section 5 declaration and now seeks to restrict that to a landowner or an occupier of the land. It is a significant change and removes a large cohort of people from the original section 5 options that were available to them. My amendment to this section seeks to reintroduce that option for any person so that we do have that fully participative planning system rather than restrict access to it. I will be interested to hear the Minister's comments on this.