Results 3,281-3,300 of 15,009 for speaker:Eoin Ó Broin

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I have two brief, high-level points. This is not the same discussion as we had on the previous days, particularly because the national planning framework has a completely different statutory status in the hierarchy of plans. Therefore, it would be impossible for somebody to have a view of these types of amendments with respect to development plans and to take a different view with respect...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I move amendment No. 63: In page 42, between lines 7 and 8, to insert the following: “(8) Where the Minister proposes to make regulations under this section and considers that the proposed regulations are connected with or likely to relate to matters of interest to Prescribed Bodies, the Minister shall provide them with an effective opportunity to participate and comment on the...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: This has been an issue of quite significant discussion, both at PLS and subsequently. It is an issue on which I am still completely unclear as to why the changes that are in the Bill have been made. Probably one of the strongest contributions we heard on this, both during the prelegislative scrutiny and more recently, was from the Irish Planning Institute. It officially reiterated its...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I do not want to have a row with the Cathaoirleach because he has chaired these sessions exceptionally well.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: The article yesterday was not written by a journalist. The Irish Planning Institute, IPI, decided to write an opinion piece specifically focused on the work of this committee because it has significant concerns. It is materially relevant to our deliberations, including on this section, and it is right and proper its views would be read into the record.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: No.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: It was officially written on behalf on the institute and is not the personal opinions of an individual.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: The Minister's response to the official public position of the IPI is unfortunate. When representatives of the IPI presented to the joint committee during pre-legislative scrutiny, they were extremely critical of the consultation process that the Minister outlined. In fact, one of the comments they made was that there was an enormous difference between what was discussed at the planning...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: For example, there was a recent section 5 declaration request to my local authority from a commercial property owner in an industrial estate to determine if a change of use was exempted development. It is interesting because if the owner of the development is going to proceed with the change of use it is obviously going to be financially very significant for them with regard to what they do...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I have not heard anybody, in any of my engagements on this issue, saying that the status quo should remain. I am not saying those people do not exist but I have not come across them, and it is certainly not the argument of those of us on this side of the Chamber. I am not so sure what the Minister means by his reference to some experts forgetting, in his comments around efficiency and...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Was that specifically on the concerns raised by ourselves and the Irish Planning Institute and others?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: In those conversations, was there any consideration or discussion around the Aarhus Convention and the participation rights of third parties? Everything the Minister has said to date, which is completely reasonable, has been around the concern of the Attorney General on first party rights. Surely if we raised third party rights, as did others, eight months ago, and the Minister has had...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: No, it is amendments Nos. 99 to 103. They are relevant to section 11, which is a supplemental provision for section 10.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Yes.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Before I speak to the amendments, I am keen to hear the Minister's explanation for section 11. Like Deputy O'Callaghan, I was taken aback when I read it. Intuitively, it jarred with me that such a prohibition would be in place. Obviously, there are some caveats if information is misleading or withheld, but there could be circumstances in which information is just not brought to light or is...