Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

We oppose this amendment. Section 96(6)(a) of the Bill, as it stands, provides that within six months of being granted the development permission, a MAC holder must produce a rehabilitation schedule and thereby put a place a plan to restore the area when the work has finished. This amendment, as we read it, will mean that the MAC holder will only have to produce the rehabilitation schedule three months before undertaking development. This could allow for sea hoarding and sea flipping, as happens with land development. A developer could get a MAC and development permission, then do all that is allowed under the MAC but not start the development, which would allow for surveys, etc., that would increase of the value of the site. The developer could then flip it and never even have to look at restoring the area at all. That is our concern with the amendment. I would be interested to hear the Minister of State's response and why the Government has introduced this change to the original Bill.

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