Results 2,781-2,800 of 15,009 for speaker:Eoin Ó Broin

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: What happens if there is a disagreement? Will that be dealt with by the provisions of section 70?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: This is quite important. I am not necessarily disagreeing with the provisions of the section. As I understand it, the co-ordinated area plans propose to do what Deputy John Paul Phelan's White Paper was unable to do. I cannot remember the name of the mechanism he proposed, but it caused untold disagreement among city and county managers and some disquiet among councillors, in particular in...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: My understanding from section 70 is that the committee has to agree the plan, which then goes to the two or three local authorities. There must be some mechanism for decision-making. However, I am happy to stand corrected on that. I do not want us to stray into a discussion of section 70 before we get to it.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Does that mean, for example, that in such a case, the requirements under subsection 27(10) would be jointly carried out by the two regional assemblies as appointed?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: On the question I asked about deciding which planning authority is to be the principal planning authority, will guidance be given and regulations provided? How will one or two regional assemblies, as the case may be, determine that?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: It is important that there be some level of guidance in this regard in advance. This is quite a new process. It would be really useful to have the maximum amount of clarity provided at this stage. I want to stick with these provisions rather than looking ahead to section 70, which we will deal with presently. Is it the case that before any of the functions set out under subsection 27(10)...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Is the Minister of State in a position at this stage to give us any flavour of what that guidance might be? For instance, is the thinking in the Department that the local authority with the larger land mass in the co-ordinated area will automatically be the lead or will it be a question of which authority has the necessary competence, skills and staffing? The Minister of State and I have...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I have a question on the decision-making functions of the committee, as set out.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Yes. Will the Minister of State confirm whether he is saying it has no decision-making functions?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: However, even where there is consensus, numbers matter.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I am not. A concern has been expressed by the Eastern and Midland Regional Assembly that it is being given a number of functions under section 27(10) but it is not clear on the criteria against which it will exercise those functions. I really do not want to stray into discussing section 70, which we will get to separately.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I have a question on the second point raised by the Eastern and Midland Regional Assembly, which concerns co-ordinated area plans in an area that overlaps two regional assemblies. Is the Minister of State saying that in all such cases, the process would be jointly administered by the two regional assemblies? Is Athlone unique in being in that situation or are there other locations to which...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: It is a unique situation? Is the thinking that the two assemblies would jointly oversee the process?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Might it be done by way of agreement, with one assembly taking the lead?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: There could be a national planning policy statement that governs such an instance.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: That means there are three different options

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: That all sounds very vague. The only reason I am raising this issue is that the experience of Deputy Phelan, when he was Minister of State and was trying to develop a White Paper to find a mechanism to cover this process, was that there was a great deal of subterranean disagreement and conflict. This ultimately led to that particular proposition being withdrawn by the Government, even...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: It is the total.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Yes, okay.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I move amendment No. 256: In page 74, between lines 3 and 4, to insert the following: “(iv) any relevant language plans agreed in accordance with the Gaeltacht Act 2012 for a Gaeltacht Language Planning Area, Gaeltacht Service Town or Irish Language Network relevant to the area of the regional spatial and economic strategy,”.