Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies who have contributed. I will not go over the old points but will address some of the issues. I completely reject Deputy Connolly's remarks. In no way, shape or form are we taking anyone out of the planning process. Third-party observations are totally and utterly respected, and rightly so. Normal people, residents' associations and environmental groups do exceptionally important work for us to ensure planning applications are properly scrutinised, and no suggestion should be made in the House that this Bill reduces their input in any way, shape or form, because it does not. It mainly brings transparency to that process, which is important for everyone.

On the Aarhus Convention, I respectfully disagree, and we have the weight of the Office of the Attorney General on our side. A legal review took place to state again that this Bill is Aarhus compliant. I did not mean to exclude what Deputy Cian O'Callaghan had said when I responded earlier so I will deal with the specific points he raised. I referred to the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications and its response to the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee. I will restate the following because it is important. Most of the matters raised did not relate to this Bill at all. The communication included reference to the extension of duration provisions in place, which are contained in section 42 of the Planning and Development Act 2000. That section will be replaced with sections 138 to 141, inclusive, of this Bill. Those sections include a number of important changes designed to clarify and address areas of concern that were previously highlighted by that committee. Section 42 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 will remain in place as a transitional measure for three years only in respect of applications for extension of duration of decisions made under the Planning and Development Act 2000. After that, all such applications must be made under the provisions in this Bill. It is appropriate to have transitional provisions to allow for that smooth transition. That is why we are going to have a phased enactment of this Bill as we move from the arrangements under the Planning and Development Act 2000 to the arrangements of this Bill, which will become an Act when it passes into law. There are numerous transitional provisions in the Bill. Section 141 of the Bill consolidates, with modifications, various sections governing the alteration of permission under the Planning and Development Act 2000, including section 42, as I have already referenced. Importantly, this section now deals with both alterations and extensions of duration to permission, whereas section 42 of the Planning and Development Act dealt only with alterations to permission.

Following receipt of the communication from the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee, sections 138 to 142, inclusive, of the Bill were carefully reviewed - and Deputies can be assured of that - in conjunction with the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel and the Office of the Attorney General to ensure compliance with Ireland's obligations. A number of amendments have been brought forward to provide greater clarity, and they include deeming all requests that require environmental assessment to be material; enabling the deciding authority to also determine that other requests, even when environmental assessment is not required, may also be deemed material; clarifying that non-material alterations are minor clerical amendments, which was always going to be the case; providing adequate public participation and notice requirements for deciding authorities, which we have done and which we are restating; and empowering the Minister to regulate the duration given and to decide in what period it may be requested. The Bill requires all material alterations to undertake the requisite public notification and participation in line with all of our obligations, including the obligations under the Aarhus Convention. Let me be very clear about that point. All matters deemed non-material alterations are, by their nature, minor and are non-environmental in nature. I hope that clarifies the position.

I will turn to the matter of resources that has been raised by a number of Members. Deputy O'Callaghan went back to a time when there were significant difficulties in An Bord Pleanála. We had to stabilise the board. I had to do that as Minister. I did not appoint people during that period because the organisation needed to be stabilised and we needed to ensure a review and investigation were allowed to take place. That has all been concluded, thankfully. That was the appropriate thing to do at the time and I make no apologies for it. That is not the only reason for delays but an additional backlog was built up in that period. It can be imagined what the view of some members of the Opposition may have been had we kept appointing members in line with the then existing application or appointment process while the board was going through that difficult period. It was right and proper for us to reform that and I have already done so by way of legislation. I signed the Planning and Development (Increase in maximum number of Ordinary Board Members of An Bord Pleanála) Order into law on 20 August and it will remain in effect until 1 January. It allows for the maximum number of positions on the board to be 18, including the chairperson. We have seen a significant increase in board members in conjunction with the significant increase in resourcing, which I will cover in a moment. We are filling those posts in a timely manner. An Bord Pleanála is now working to address the backlog. I expect it will be back to normal business by the end of this year.

The recruitment process for the appointment of a full-time chairperson, which was facilitated by the Public Appointments Service, PAS, concluded in January 2024. The Government subsequently appointed Mr. Peter Mullan as the new chairperson of An Bord Pleanála. A further transparent recruitment campaign around appointments, which I assume Deputy O'Callaghan would support, was managed by PAS. It commenced in October 2023 and, following a shortlisting process and competitive interview, nine candidates have been appointed as full board members through that new process, which is based on people's expertise, know-how and knowledge. It resulted from a public campaign advertising the vacant positions on the board. Further appointments will be made in the near future.

Deputy Ó Broin raised the matter of An Bord Pleanála resources. What have we have done since October 2021? We agreed a further 117 staffing posts for An Bord Pleanála. The board received approval and sanction from me and my Department for a total of 313 posts. As of now, 300 of those posts are filled.

That is 117 additional planning staff since August 2022. Local authority resources are very important. In net terms, we have 101 additional planning staff in the 2023 to 2024 period. This year, we have 112 new additional staff recruited. When we talk to people in the sector as well, they say we need properly qualified people. These are very high-skilled jobs that require people who are qualified and have expertise and knowledge in that area. Sometimes, those roles take longer to fill than some people would like, but it is right and proper we have the correct people in place. It is important the House is aware that we provided sanction for those additional staff members. We have resourced the board for 50% additional staff since 2021. For the information of the House, I will be bringing the action plan for planning resources to the Government next week. I have nothing further to say on the amendments. As discussed, I will not be supporting them.

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