Results 5,141-5,160 of 6,949 for speaker:Cian O'Callaghan

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Marine Planning Area Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Nov 2021)

Cian O'Callaghan: I am trying to tease out concerns about the pre-planning or forward-planning stage. Will the forward planning part be captured by this? If it is captured by this, will it be published only at the point of an authorisation at the end of the process? Is it transparent and publicly accessible in the database only at the very end? Will people be able to go onto the database to see, for...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Marine Planning Area Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Nov 2021)

Cian O'Callaghan: I am not raising issues around lobbying. I am asking whether the database will capture surveys or monitoring of conditions-----

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Marine Planning Area Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Nov 2021)

Cian O'Callaghan: My point is on where there is not an authorisation. If surveys are done that do not lead to authorisation will they be captured in the database? If they are not, it is a waste of knowledge that could be useful.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Marine Planning Area Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Nov 2021)

Cian O'Callaghan: On amendment No. 122, what sort of functions does the Minister of State envisage being delegated from the Minister to MARA? Will he give some clarification on the thinking there and how wide-ranging that could be?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Marine Planning Area Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Nov 2021)

Cian O'Callaghan: Yes, but it relates to the delegation of powers to MARA.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Marine Planning Area Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Nov 2021)

Cian O'Callaghan: If the Minister of State could clarify the matter I raised, it would be helpful. On amendment No. 123, I have huge concerns. The sale of marine areas which are State-owned could be done by MARA as opposed to the Minister. Will the Minister of State clarify what areas of the marine and seabed we are talking about? Would a sale involve the land under the seabed? Does it include the area...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Marine Planning Area Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Nov 2021)

Cian O'Callaghan: We need clarification, as Deputy Boyd Barrett said, on exactly what is meant by "maritime area that is State-owned"? Is that the entire maritime area? It seems to me, reading this amendment, that it is fairly black and white that it allows the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, with the consent of the Minister, to delegate to MARA the function of selling or otherwise disposing of...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Marine Planning Area Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Nov 2021)

Cian O'Callaghan: Also on section 30, there is not public participation or consultation with any other body when the Minister decides to issue a direction, except with that body. The Minister of State might explain why that is the case.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Marine Planning Area Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Nov 2021)

Cian O'Callaghan: If this work is done and submitted but does not result in an authorisation and it does not go that far, the database will still capture the information. Building up knowledge on the marine environment is very important.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Marine Planning Area Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Nov 2021)

Cian O'Callaghan: I thank the Minister of State. This is very helpful.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Marine Planning Area Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Nov 2021)

Cian O'Callaghan: Given the Minister of State's helpful comments and the current wording, which would, contrary to his intention, allow MARA to sell, perhaps he will withdraw these amendments and come back with a proper wording on Report Stage. As it stands, amendment No. 123 is highly objectionable.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Marine Planning Area Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Nov 2021)

Cian O'Callaghan: I will speak to amendments Nos. 129 and 130. It is welcome that a representative of the CCMA will be on the board. That is a good idea. Amendment No. 130 is very good. We probably all have, at various stages, experiences with boards that sometimes do not have the required expertise. I understand the Minister not wanting to be overly prescriptive but some formula of words should be put...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Marine Planning Area Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Nov 2021)

Cian O'Callaghan: The key issue is independence of the board. In order to operate well, function well, be able to sometimes give a different view and, if necessary, call an issue out, boards need to have a degree of independence as well as expertise. Amendment No. 129 is a marginal improvement on what is contained in the Bill whereby it is stated that several of the members of the board would be officers of...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Marine Planning Area Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Nov 2021)

Cian O'Callaghan: Absolutely.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Marine Planning Area Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Nov 2021)

Cian O'Callaghan: The role of the board in holding the chief executive and chief executive's team to account is important. We are all agreed on that. The independence of the board is important. Is the Minister of State saying he feels the competition allows for an independent board?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Marine Planning Area Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Nov 2021)

Cian O'Callaghan: How can it be an independent board when it is populated by officials from the Departments? As Deputy Boyd Barrett has said, it is not a criticism of officials from Departments to say they are heavily constrained. They do not have the independence of someone with expertise in the marine environment and biodiversity, or someone with academic expertise in this area. By their nature,...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Marine Planning Area Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Nov 2021)

Cian O'Callaghan: In one sense, using the local authority analogy in this context is probably not a good example because of the history of why local authority members, as effectively being the board, were taken out of the planning process. I will not go through all that-----

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Marine Planning Area Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Nov 2021)

Cian O'Callaghan: No, but that-----

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Marine Planning Area Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Nov 2021)

Cian O'Callaghan: I hear what the Minister of State is saying on that point. I am saying, though, that the local authority example is not a good one to use because of why the local authority members were taken out of that process. It was for a whole set of reasons.