Results 3,021-3,040 of 15,009 for speaker:Eoin Ó Broin

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: -----what documents are prescribed for the purpose of the NPF review. It will set that out. One assumes they are documents of a higher order, such as development plans, etc. They will be listed out. That is covered by the word "shall" in section 22(2).

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Then, section 22(1) means any other document that is not prescribed and it does not even have to be Government policy; it could be anything else.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: The only thing I will say to the Minister of State is that part of his justification for having "may have regard to" is that he is saying the Government should not have to consider everything. It does not, because there is not-----

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Sure, but the provision at the end of section 22(1) states "as it considers appropriate".

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Without overburdening the point, and this is my last question on this issue, do the Minister of State's officials have a sense at this point how encompassing the prescribed documents will be?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: It will broadly be plans that have some kind of statutory function.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Okay. I am clear on that now.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: The Minister of State misunderstands the amendment because, in fact, it is not exclusive. It states that it "shall include", but "shall include" means other things can be included. It does not state "shall only be" or "shall only include". That is the first point. The second point is that in some sense, it is not that we are trying to list the documents but we want to ensure that...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I thank the Green Party for tabling this important amendment. In some sense, it does more than just provide a definition. As the Minister of State will know, far too often if something is not set out somewhere in law, even by way of a definition, it can be extremely difficult to get really worthwhile projects over the line. We all have experience in our own constituencies of people who...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: On amendment No. 125, was the word "range" in the original definition in the existing legislation or was it a new word that was put into this draft and then to be taken out for the reasons just stated? In the context of amendment No. 553, I am not clear on what the actual practical consequence are of the insertion of the proposed text into section 73. Perhaps the Minister of State will...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Yes, it is very clear. I thank the Minister of State.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: The co-ordinated area plans are really important. I remember the urgency with which the then Minister of State, Deputy John Paul Phelan, brought forward a general scheme on this particular issue. In Athlone, Ferrybank in Waterford and Drogheda and that part of east Meath, there is obviously a certain level of urgency. I am not against the idea of giving more time because one year is...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Yes, cycles.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I have some questions, rather than points. The Minister of State may not have this information to hand but if there is an indicative list, or a list of the current co-ordinated area plans, I would be interested in having it. I know of three or four of them. When we were discussing the propositions made by the then Minister of State, Deputy John Paul Phelan, in the previous Oireachtas...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: If that is the case, it means that in the case of Waterford and the bit of Ferrybank in Kilkenny, it could be as late as 2033 before the plan commences. Given that it will take one or two years to produce the plan, the plan might not be in place till 2034 or 2035, which is a decade away. That is even longer again. I do not represent any of these areas so I do not have the same level of...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: It could be - it does not have to be - a decade before we get any of these co-ordinated area plans.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Carlow is the other one.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I have those here. I can look them up myself.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: That is 100% the case. I am just looking at the outer limit. If there are two or three local authorities, would you have to wait until both or all three local authorities have their new plans before you can initiate the co-ordinated area plan? Or, could it be commenced when one, more than likely the lead local authority, has agreed its plan? Do they all have to agree their new plans?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I assume the lead local authority would have to have the new plan.