Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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That is my understanding, yes. The whole intention of this regime is to get public awareness quicker as part of a planned stakeholder engagement process with the developer or the pending application. That is the premise of the Bill that we will be trying to achieve.

MARA will consider the criteria set out in Schedule 5 and any consultation on MACs will be limited to those criteria. As referenced by other Deputies and as I mentioned, it is not MARA's role or the function of a MAC to examine or determine some of those issues, which are considered as part of the planning application. That is vital in terms of getting a robust, stitched-in methodology that would accompany the process and have at its core public participation and also ensuring there is public awareness well before an application is submitted to make sure communities are not blindsided.