Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 9 November 2021

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government

Maritime Area Planning Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed)

Photo of Eoin Ó BroinEoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I will explain the question with regard to standard residential developments. The section relates to whether a person is deemed fit and proper. Often when development consent is sought on land it is from a corporate entity. There may be directors. Some of those directors may behave in an inappropriate way. They then come off the board of directors. They are replaced by family members or other associates. The corporate entity no longer continues to have the person who may be deemed unfit and improper. How do we protect against this? The reason I am raising this is because as far back as 1977 the Law Reform Commission highlighted this as an area of particular concern with terrestrial planning. It spoke about how certain persons deemed unfit and improper are able to hide behind a veil of corporate legal structures. Is this something that has been given adequate thought with respect to this? Does it solely centre around individuals as actual persons rather than corporate entities that may have relationships with people who have come off boards? Does the Minister of State see the point I am raising? This has been particularly problematic, for example, with defective buildings and poor building practices. It is quite relevant to this section of the scheme.