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

I welcome the Minister of State to the select committee's eighth week of deliberations on the Planning and Development Bill.

My two amendments are related. They relate to section 348, which deals with the issue of fees for an coimisiún pleanála. What I am trying to do in the amendments is have some set of considerations included in order that the Minister, when approving fees or exemptions under this section, will take into account issues such as, for example: the need for public consultation; the importance of the value of public participation; matters relating to the right of access to justice - a legally binding obligation on the State, as the Minister of State will be aware, under Aarhus Convention; requirements to ensure that participation is not prohibitively expensive; and the obligations relating to wide access to justice. We must also have regard to the cumulative cost implications for a person or group, environmental organisations seeking to engage in environmental decision-making, the importance of ensuring that any fees or exemptions set do not operate as a barrier to participation or access to justice and related matters regarding the convention on access to information, public participation, decision-making, etc. I am trying to find some way of ensuring that not only will fees be set in such a way as to ensure that the planning authority, in this case, the commission, will have adequate resources to allow it to make decisions but also that the level of the fees will not in any way undermine people's right, not only in principle but under domestic and international and European law, to be able to fully participate in the process. I am very interested to hear the Minister of State's response on this.