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

I move amendment No. 1042:

In page 538, between lines 34 and 35, to insert the following: "348. (1) The Commission may make proposals to the Minister on fees that may be charged, which shall be subject to the approval of the Oireachtas, in relation to—

(a) the making of an appeal, application, referral or request,

(b) any function of the Commission under this Act or any other enactment, and

(c) any procedure arising in connection with an appeal, application, referral or request, or function of the Commission, including the making of submissions, the lodging of reports or other documents, consultations, meetings or other procedures, and a fee as so approved shall be payable to the Commission by any person concerned as appropriate.

(2) The Commission may, subject to the approval of the Oireachtas, provide for the payment of different fees in relation to different classes or descriptions of matters referred to in paragraphs (a) to (c) of subsection (1), for exemption from the payment of such fees in specified circumstances and for the waiver, remission or refund in whole or in part of such fees in specified circumstances.

(3) The Commission shall review the fees determined under subsection (1) or exemptions under subsection (2) from time to time, but at least every three years, having regard to any change in the consumer price index since the determination of the fees for the time being in force, and may make proposals to amend the fees to reflect the results of that review for the approval of the Oireachtas.

(4) Where the Commission wishes to make a proposal under subsections (1), (2) or (3), it shall first submit the proposal to the Minister, and the Minister shall—

(a) request the relevant Joint Oireachtas Committee to consider the proposal and make recommendations in relation to it, and

(b) request the Oireachtas Committee in preparing its recommendations on the proposal to in particular consider the objectives, obligations and requirements as the case may be of the following in so far as these relate to third parties engagement—

(i) the importance and value of public participation,

(ii) rights to access to justice,

(iii) requirements to ensure participation is not prohibitively expensive and the obligations provide for wide access to justice, and

(iv) to also consider the cumulative cost implications for a person or group, and in particular environmental organisations, seeking to engage in the environmental decision-making,

and shall highlight the following:

(i) the Convention on Access To Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making And Access To Justice in Environmental Matters done at Aarhus, Denmark, on 25 June 1998, the Aarhus Convention,

(ii) the Public Participation Directive, 2003/35/EC, and

(iii) Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights.

(5) The proposal made under subsections (1), (2) or (3), together with any report from the Joint Oireachtas Committee, shall be laid before both Houses of the Oireachtas, and shall not be approved until a resolution approving it is made by each such House.

(6) Where the Oireachtas does not approve the proposal laid before them within 3 months of the proposal being laid under subsection (5), the Minister shall—

(a) request the Commission to prepare another proposal, and

(b) address such other proposal as if it were a proposal made under subsections (1), (2) or (3), and proceed accordingly.

(7) Where fees are approved in accordance with this section, the Commission shall—

(a) give notice of the fees in one or more than one national newspaper not less than 8 weeks before the fees come into effect, and

(b) make a statement of the fees available for inspection at the offices of the Commission and publish the statement of the fees on the Commission's website.

(8) The Commission shall specify fees for the making of copies of any document required to be made available by it to the public, which shall not exceed the cost of making the copies.

(9) The Commission shall operate a waiver fee to ensure the cost of purchasing copies of any document required to be made available to the public shall not be prohibitively expensive for the person or group requesting it.

(10) For the purposes of this section, "change in the consumer price index" means the difference between the All Items Consumer Price Index Number last published by the Central Statistics Office before the date of the determination under this section and the said Number last published before the date of the review under subsection (3), expressed as a percentage of the last-mentioned Number.".