Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 633:

In page 204, line 15, to delete "is eligable to apply for permission and".

I will address this amendment and amendment No. 693 together. Amendment No. 633 relates to section 87, while amendment No. 693 seeks to amend section 114.

These provisions are about pre-application consultations. I am open to correction but, as far as I am aware, wording is being introduced that did not exist in the current Act setting out that an applicant must be eligible to apply for planning permission before being able to avail of a preplanning consultation. This could cause difficulties, primarily in regard to renewable energy projects. I have in mind somebody who is proposing, designing or trying to develop a renewable energy project, either on land or at sea, taking into account that a sea development will have a terrestrial element to it as well in terms of bringing cables ashore. Will having to be eligible to apply for planning permission mean such an applicant would need landowner consent in advance or, if a compulsory purchase order, CPO, is needed, that the applicant might be required to have CPO rights conferred to be deemed eligible?