Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Amendment No. 61 is the most crucial amendment in the grouping. Under the new section 66A to section 66H provisions, local authorities and the local community development committees are to be tasked with preparing integrated local economic and community plans for their areas. These plans will have economic and community elements, which will be prepared separately but in parallel. The local economic and community plan provisions will ensure that balanced local economic and community development will be undertaken in accordance with the principles of sustainable development and that this development will be led and co-ordinated by the local government system. This function will be central to the new functions of local authorities. It will add to the current function in promoting the interests of local authorities, and in that context I propose amendment No. 60.

Amendment No. 20 provides for definitions of both community and economic elements of the integrated plan to be added to section 128A and, through amendments Nos. 21, 23 and 24, Nos. 26 to 30, inclusive, and Nos. 53 to 56, inclusive, for specific references to the plan in section 128B to be replaced by reference to the community elements of the plan or those elements of the plan, as the case may be. Amendment No. 25 will enable the plan and provide for harmonisation of the planning period of the community elements of the local economic and community plan with other local authority planning processes, including the economic elements of the plan and the new regional spatial economic strategies.

Amendment No. 32 will provide a role for the LCDC in the development of the economic elements of the local economic and community plan. Amendment No. 34 deletes from section 128C of the published Bill the references to the local and community plan, as the new provisions of sections 66A to 66H will now provide for the local economic and community plans. Amendment No. 40 follows from the proposals for the making of the local economic and community plan, including the making of regulations in regard to the new integrated plan. Accordingly, the provisions of section 128F(2)(c), covering the making of regulations for the stand-alone community plan, are now not required. This amendment also provides for the making of regulations in respect of administrative arrangements for the LCDC meetings, such as scheduling and notification of meetings. This had not been provided for in the original Bill.

Amendment No. 42 makes a minor adjustment to the provision for making regulations relating to local and community development committees by removing the power to make regulations on reviewing the plan, as this will now be covered in the new section 66H. As a consequence of these deletions, technical amendments to renumber the provisions being inserted by section 35 of the Bill are covered by amendments Nos. 33, 35 and 36, Nos. 38 and 39, Nos. 42 to 49, inclusive, and Nos. 51 and 57.

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