Results 3,421-3,440 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: I was hoping he might be more specific than that. There will be a gap between repeal and enactment, there is no transitional mechanism in the text of the Bill or the amendments so far and the officials are working on whether or not an amendment is required to deal with that. Is that what the Minister of State is saying?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Why would there be a need for a Report Stage amendment if that is the mechanism?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Clarity is important here. The transitional mechanism is that, notwithstanding repeal, the provisions of the 2000 Act will continue to apply until such time as section 9 is enacted and regulations pertaining to it are enforced. Everything that is exempted development, or would have otherwise been exempted development under the 2000 Act, will continue to be able to secure that status, for...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: The Minister of State's officials will have nightmares because they have to review this before it is even finished. That is my question answered. I thank the Minister of State and his officials.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Yes, briefly. We spent a lot of time on this issue previously, so I am not going to spend much time on this. The Minister of State, in his response, had it slightly the wrong way round. It is not that we want things to be exempted development. It is the very opposite. The idea here is that if a development in a Gaeltacht area had a negative impact in terms of the use of Irish locally, it...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Is it that you cannot, or you just do not want to?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I think the Minister of State misunderstands the amendment. The opposite is the case. Where somebody, for example, is seeking to have a development characterised as exempt, if that development either has not already been built or if they are seeking to build it, if it were to have a detrimental impact on the use of the Irish language in the Gaeltacht, then there should be a prohibition, or...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I am done with amendment No. 51.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: To be brief, section 9(3) states: "Development shall not be exempted development for the purposes of this Act if an environmental impact assessment or an appropriate assessment of the development is required." That makes complete sense but I want to broaden that to include the following phrase, "or where the activity may have a significant impact on the environment”.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Yes, of course, do not rush. It is amendment No. 54.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: It is amendment No. 54. We are dealing with exempted developments. One of the categories that should not be deemed exempt is where the development requires an environmental impact assessment, EIA, or an appropriate assessment, AA. I support that. I am looking to broaden it to include an additional category where the activity may have a significant impact on the environment. My argument...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: We previously asked why there has not been a specific assessment for compliance with the Aarhus Convention. We understand from the officials that there was general legal advice on the Bill. I do not think it is correct for the Minister to be so definitive in saying that means it is compliant because if somebody challenges the Bill, it would ultimately be up to a judge to decide that. There...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: No, I said environmental infringements.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I want to make a point and then I will ask a question about the Minister's amendment No. 50. As to who decides, it is the Minister who decides by way of regulation, as is often the case in these matters. In lots of planning legislation, including in this Bill, we have words like "exceptional" or "significant" and the purpose of those are then set out in regulations. I will not labour that...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: The amendment applies it to all of section 4.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Perfect.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Do you wish me to speak briefly to amendment No. 63?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: There is a difference between State bodies and prescribed-----

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I was just making the point that State bodies and prescribed bodies are not the same. I am interested in seeing where in what the Minister has in front of him it sets out prescribed bodies other than State bodies.

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 the problem. The Minister may not do it.