Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Clarification on cable infrastructure would be helpful because we all want to speed up the delivery of renewable energy. Those applications go through a full appraisal anyway.

Amendment No. 694 relates to section 114. That section refers to a "person who is eligible to apply", unless we were in regulations to prescribe developments this would not apply to. Subsection (3) states:

Where a request for a consultation under this section is made by a prospective applicant, and is accompanied by the required documentation and information in accordance with subsection (2), the Commission shall, as expeditiously as is practicable [...] enter into and carry out consultations [etc].

The concern is that regardless of how hard the commission is working, it has a considerable workload. We heard positive news from the Minister yesterday about sanction for recruitment in the commission. I suggest not later than four weeks would be an appropriate period for the planning authority or commission to respond. The commission or local authority would retain the right to say it would not enter into this pre-application consultation. Is it compulsory on a planning authority or the commission to grant a pre-application consultation, not in relation to LRD but in other cases?