Results 2,881-2,900 of 15,009 for speaker:Eoin Ó Broin

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (7 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: The decision, in formal terms, rests with the planning authority, whether it is the local authority or the board. However, that is not the import of what the Minister is proposing, and this is why I go back to what the Irish Planning Institute has stated. In this regard, let me refer to a real case. For example, we had the mandatory ministerial guidelines on building heights whereby you...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (7 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I am very clear that this is relates to the activities of the planner in the planning authority.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (7 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I am clear about that but what the Minister has said does not make sense. On the one hand, he is saying that this is to provide guidance when planners are making their assessment prior to their decision. He is saying it does not reach into their role but that he wants consistency and wants to remove inconsistencies. Part of the problem with planning consents is that we can have a...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (7 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I have one final question. How can we get that consistency without in some way restricting the flexibility that clearly exists and that, if I interpret the Minister's view correctly, is leading to inconsistencies?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (7 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I have one final response to that but the Minister does not have to respond to me if he does not wish to. He is misreading this. The section refers to the "integration of appropriate architectural urban design and quality standards into development plans" and so on. That is what that is about. The issue then is that the Minister is absolutely seeking to restrict the scope within which an...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (7 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Nobody on this side of the room or, indeed, in the Irish Planning Institute is suggesting that planners should not have regard to their development plans, spatial strategies, national planning framework or SPPRs. That is not the issue. I know what this is about. The Ronan Group submitted an application for a specific height for the Salesforce tower. This is a real-life case directly...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (7 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: No.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (7 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: It was.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (7 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Is Deputy O'Callaghan finished?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (7 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I am happy to speak to the group of the amendments and then come back on their finer details. I would like to spend a little bit more time on amendment No. 205. There are several issues, including that the relevant section of the Bill lists 15 areas on which a national planning policy statement can be issued. I know the Minister will remind me, and I am surprised he has not done so...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (7 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I have two small points on the amendments to be clear. Let us look at amendment No. 206. It is not that it would be in any way prescribing individual developments must have X or Y. In some senses, by listing these areas under what I am calling the priority areas for national planning policy statements, people would actually be saying that they need better guidance on this to try to avoid...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (7 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: It is quite obvious Deputy Gould is back.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (7 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: It is not up to the Minister.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (7 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: What is in amendment No. 207?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (7 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I am happy to start. I welcome the Minister of State. Amendment No. 211 relates to-----

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (7 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: -----section 24-----

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (7 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: -----and the considerations for issuance of a national planning statement. Subsection (2) deals with the provisions for consultation. The word "may" here is too weak. There absolutely has to be consultation on these statements. I understand that the practice to date, in general, has been to have consultations. Some of the consultation has been very positive and very significant. I see...