Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

The process worked best when the Minister was present because some of the other Ministers were, unfortunately, from outside the Department and were sometimes not able to engage and answer on a lot of the issues.

When I asked about Aarhus compliance on Committee Stage, the Minister said that some matters in the report did not relate to the Bill. I asked about the matters in the Aarhus compliance report published four months ago that do relate to the Bill. I specifically asked the section of the report which states:

In the light of the above considerations, the Committee does not consider that, if enacted...in their current form, proposed sections 133 and 135 (2) (b) and (d) of the Planning and Development...Bill ... would fulfil the requirements of paragraph 4 (a) (i) of decision VII/8i.

That is specifically about the Bill we are discussing now. I asked about that on Committee Stage. It is in the Aarhus compliance report. I could not get an answer as to how the Minister felt this was this was compliant given the very specific and clear ruling from the compliance committee that the Bill is not compliant. I did not get a specific answer on that; I got a general answer that, “It is Aarhus-compliant.”

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