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

One of the things that confused me about this section and took me a while to get my head round, particularly in relation to the discussion we had on a previous section on Environmental Protection Agency licences versus planning permissions, was the question of why we have these as licences rather than permissions. I am interested in finding that out. I can get my head around an exempted development but here, where something is an exempted development, it does not need a licence. For me, they are not the same thing. To help clarify for our benefit, is it just for particular reasons that these categories of what are essentially development became subject to a licensing process rather than the planning process? How did we get to this point? I have always thought that a planning permission was for a structure and a licence was to do something. Planning permission is granted for a building and a licence is granted to run a pub in a building. They are not the same. Planning permission is provided for a waste management treatment plant and then permission is granted to run a waste management treatment plant. They are different categories.