Results 3,361-3,380 of 15,009 for speaker:Eoin Ó Broin
- Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)
Eoin Ó Broin: It is really important to understand why the Mahon tribunal made the recommendations it made. This tribunal took a very long time and involved very considerable deliberation. I do not believe any of its recommendations were made frivolously. Recommendation 1.09 says very clearly that the Minister, now the Minister for housing, "enjoys considerable discretion in determining ... [the] scope...
- Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)
Eoin Ó Broin: That is precisely my focus.
- Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)
Eoin Ó Broin: Absolutely not. It is a separate proposition. I will make the following comment but I do not expect the Minister of State to respond. I just want to put on record that it is remarkable that the Government has not provided a reason for stating that it has made a decision not to allow Oireachtas votes, particularly in light of the fact that it is so important-----
- Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)
Eoin Ó Broin: I have the floor, with the greatest of respect. What is happening is remarkable, particularly in view the fact that the Mahon tribunal report contained a key recommendation in this regard. However, people can make their own judgments on that matter. One suspects that the decision that there will not be a vote is political in nature as opposed to one having anything to do with planning or...
- Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)
Eoin Ó Broin: Amendments Nos. 176 and 180. They relate to section 23, which deals with the national planning statement. The first thing to put on the record is that the national planning statement is one of the very substantial innovations in this Bill. Whereas a great deal of what is in the Bill, as we have discussed, comprises carryovers or modest amendments to previous legislation, this is something...
- Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)
Eoin Ó Broin: I will stick to my two amendments that we are discussing, namely, amendments Nos. 176 and 180.
- Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)
Eoin Ó Broin: It is specifically the procedure I wish to speak to because the procedure is different.
- Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)
Eoin Ó Broin: I will not overburden the Chair. These are statutory policies. What does the word “statutory” mean? The dictionary definition of statutory is “required, permitted, or enacted by statute”. That is what statutory means. I ask the Minister of State what the dictionary definition of a statute is. These things are important because they become points and arguments...
- Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)
Eoin Ó Broin: This is not a question of views; it is a question of what is in the Bill. Let me give another practical example. This is what is likely to happen if the Government proceeds down this deficient path. Let us consider, for example, the current section 28 ministerial guidelines on building heights. Let us imagine that the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, decides later this year, if this Bill...
- Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)
Eoin Ó Broin: I have a follow-up question. When the Minister of State answers, I will make one other observation before I move on. Is it the Government's intention to transpose the section 28 ministerial guidelines on building heights into a national planning policy statement or will that be revoked?
- Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)
Eoin Ó Broin: I will say to the Minister of State, and more so to his officials, that if both the sustainable compact growth guidelines, which are broadly positive-----
- Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)
Eoin Ó Broin: The folks behind the Minister of State put a lot of work into them, in fairness-----
- Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)
Eoin Ó Broin: -----but what-----
- Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)
Eoin Ó Broin: -----I would say is-----
- Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)
Eoin Ó Broin: These people are working very hard on those guidelines. We should always acknowledge the specific work they do.
- Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)
Eoin Ó Broin: I suggest there could be a very significant conflict between those two sets of what are currently section 28 guidelines. I know the Minister of State said the decision on section 28 guidelines for building heights has been made but, again, it is a further cause for concern that if both sets of guidelines had the force or statutory imprimatur of these provisions, very significant conflict...
- Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)
Eoin Ó Broin: I have a secondary observation. Deputy O'Callaghan's question was not answered so I will ask it in a very simple form. Are the national planning statements, particularly the national policies and measures mentioned in section 23(1)(a), statutory or non-statutory? That will be a straight answer.
- Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)
Eoin Ó Broin: Can I get an answer to that first? It is a very specific question.
- Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)
Eoin Ó Broin: Are they statutory or non-statutory? It is a very important question for legal clarity.
- Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)
Eoin Ó Broin: That is not the question and I do not think the Minister of State gave a correct answer. I will be very specific. The national planning framework is a statutory plan. It is very clear it is a statutory plan. My understanding of the national planning statements, particularly as outlined in section 23(1)(a), is that they are statutory policies. I am looking for a "Yes" or a "No". They are...