Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 21 October 2021

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government

Maritime Area Planning Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed)

Photo of Peter BurkePeter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputies for their engagement. In the context of typographical errors, I refer to amendment No. 52 in which it is explicitly stated that any amendment shall be required to be the subject of public consultation. That is the amendment to which I referred in saying that consultation would be required if a typographical error had to be amended subsequent to the issuing of guidelines.

On the development of guidelines, as a matter of course, a series of stakeholders are engaged to develop the guidelines in the first instance. That is why we have screening, which functions as a mechanism to decide the sensitivities in the guidelines, including whether we require consultation or a strategic environmental assessment. These are the key safeguards built into the system in order to ensure that the guidelines are appropriate and go to the appropriate thresholds of public consultation in their genesis. That must be clear. Sticking to the technical aspect of the Bill, section 7(2) details what public bodies have regard to with respect to ministerial guidelines.