Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 2:

In page 3, line 16, to delete "shall" and substitute "may".

A number of times the Minister talked about the technical nature of this second extension. Part of the concern that this and other amendments are trying to address is that ten years is a long time from the original grant of permission and a range of things may have changed. Therefore, I think it is too restrictive to restrict the decision-making power of the local authority purely to the conditions as set out in the Bill. There may be changes in county development plans, changes in Government legislation or changes in the surrounding built environment. Indeed there could be specific issues with the development itself or the behaviour of the developer. The local authority should have the authority to take those into account when determining the extension. Therefore, the small change from "shall" to "may" gives them that flexibility to take into account those broader developmental concerns. On that basis, I propose this amendment.

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