Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I will speak to amendments Nos. 668, 669, 671 and 672. Amendment No. 672 is a technical amendment consequential on the other three. If they pass, it is needed for consistency reasons. This is about where a planning authority seeks a time extension from an applicant and the applicant does not consent to that extension. This section says permission will be refused and the applicant can appeal this decision to the commission. The planning authority in these circumstances will refund the planning fees to the applicant and, if an appeal is made to the commission, will repay the fees made to the commission. This creates an incentive for the applicant to refuse the extension and eats into the resources of planning authorities which may already be under-resourced, which is an issue we have talked about before.

During pre-legislative scrutiny, there was input from Oonagh Buckley, then of An Bord Pleanála, and from a range of groups saying financial penalties were not the way to go. This is effectively a financial penalty on planning authorities, as well as creating a potential incentive for the applicant to go down this route. Why would we want to create that sort of incentive?