Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)

I move amendment No. 17:

In page 39, to delete lines 36 to 44.

On Committee Stage, I raised the question of the number of possible fees that could be charged as a result of the changes we are making. Under the current proposals, one might have to pay a fee on application and, if one's application is successful, another fee on receipt. We have discussed the reasoning behind it. Currently, if somebody is not granted permission, we have no way of getting any funding to recoup some of the resources we spent processing the application. It is important to bring some clarity to the matter. That is why a single fee would be appropriate. It is open to the Minister to determine whether the fee should be imposed on application or on the granting of permission. I ask him to consider accepting these amendments to bring some clarity to the matter. I do not think we should penalise people who are successful by making them pay a second fee.

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