Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will address amendments Nos. 204, 306, 331 and 769. This list of amendments relates to section 24 of the Bill and the consideration the Minister of the day must have regard to in advance of issuing or amending a national planning statement by incorporating an additional matter concerning the Traveller community. I believe the matters currently set out in the Bill are appropriate for the scope and level of consideration required for national planning statements. The current list is both balanced and broad. The matters proposed would overextend the scope of a national planning statement by merging this statement with other policy matters. This means that, unfortunately, I am not in a position to accept this amendment.

Amendment No. 769 provides that a resolution made under section 153(3) "shall not operate to prevent the provision of Traveller-specific accommodation which has already been specified ... in

a given ... development plan".

Amendment No. 306 proposes to amend section 40 related to the obligation to make and review a development plan. The amendment proposes to add a subparagraph to section 40(8) providing that a planning authority shall, when making or reviewing a development plan, ensure the plan is materially consistent with each local authority's Traveller accommodation programme. Sections 44(3) and 45(3) provide that the housing development strategy should include objectives regarding the provision of accommodation for members of the Traveller community and the use of particular areas for that purpose. The Bill as drafted recognises the need for Traveller accommodation in section 45(3)(g) of the Bill. It states that the housing development strategy shall include "objectives regarding the provision of accommodation for members of the traveller community and the use of particular areas for that purpose". This is the obligation to prepare a housing development strategy when a planning authority's functional area consists of the elements concerned in this case.

In my view, this is appropriately worded and reflects the necessary need to accommodate Travellers. This is not in isolation from the context of wider population housing accommodation. The Department recalls that the purpose of the development plan is to create a balanced, sustainable and inclusive framework for the future development of the functional area to which it applies. The practical implications of the proposed amendment would place a requirement for a particular emphasis on Traveller accommodation, necessary as it is, and thus impact the overall purpose of a balanced development plan that takes account of the many legitimate but disparate objectives, and in some cases conflicting issues would be undermined, and on that basis I cannot accept this amendment.

In terms of Traveller accommodation generally, I have only been in this role for a short time. The one thing I wanted to ensure was that additional spending went to Traveller accommodation and that all local authorities were spending their capital budgets. That is now happening this year. We are just compiling the data but there has been a significant increase in capital spending in all local authorities. Beyond the legal aspect, substance is also extremely important from my perspective. This obviously comes down to funding.

Amendment No. 331 relates to-----