Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

-----to stop his own Bill progressing in the Seanad because he did not want an amendment passed, which would have created more embarrassment for him.

I will refresh people's memories about the origins of this plan in the Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill and how it came to Government. The final report of the independent review of the performance of planning functions, having regard to specific issues raised in respect of six planning authorities, was submitted in July 2015. There are 29 recommendations in that report and I had to consider and publish them. In tandem with this, the remaining planning related recommendations of the Mahon tribunal had to be dealt with, particularly the establishment of a new independent office of the planning regulator.

A further related element concerned the development of the national planning framework currently being discussed, which was to be put on a statutory footing under the Bill in line with one of the recommendations of the Mahon tribunal. The link back to the recommendations of the Mahon tribunal has been lost in all of this and it is a very serious issue. I had this work completed and ready for Cabinet to be published in December 2015.

On 15 December, I, along with the then Minister of State, Senator Coffey, published a package of legislative and policy reforms in the planning area, namely, the planning review report, the Planning and Development (Amendment)(No. 2) Bill and details of the NPF plan. Launching the package, we made it clear in our press statements that after public consultation there would be the "publication of a draft framework by the third quarter of 2016, after which, in line with the new legislative arrangements being progressed under the Planning and Development (No. 2) Bill 2015, it will be submitted to Dáil Éireann for consideration and approval".

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