Results 6,761-6,780 of 27,055 for speaker:Darragh O'Brien

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

Darragh O'Brien: Perhaps I can help. There have been very few instances in which I have had to do that. What I am trying to do is to provide further clarity to the Deputy.

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

Darragh O'Brien: I have the floor now. The reality is that a permission relates to the actual use. That is what planning permission is about. It considers the use for a building and that is clear. Emissions and matters relating, as I have detailed already in my answer, are a wholly separate matter. Permission relates to use and that is clear. If the Deputy wants a note on the issue, I will get him one...

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

Darragh O'Brien: I understand what Deputy Ó Broin has said. There may be instances where the Ministers of State have said they want to provide further clarity based on the questions that members have put forward. To be fair, that is in the interests of being open and trying to work through the legislation and to enable an understanding of where we are coming from in that respect. I have in perhaps one...

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

Darragh O'Brien: I understand what Deputy Ó Broin has said but we have gone through and discussed some 380 amendments by my estimation. I have just been informed that of all of those amendments, there are, I believe, eight notes that I or the Ministers of State have said they will provide. That has happened in eight cases out of 380 amendments. The charge made that questions have not been answered is...

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

Darragh O'Brien: In respect of that specific note and the others, they will be provided by the end of the week.

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

Darragh O'Brien: That will give ample time to the committee in advance of the time we get to amendments Nos. 604 and 605.

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

Darragh O'Brien: We do our level best to answer all reasonable questions that are asked.

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

Darragh O'Brien: I will check on the 2000 Act now.

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

Darragh O'Brien: We will check if the wording is the 2000 Act. I do not have that information to hand and we are checking now. I said in response to Deputy Ó Broin's intervention that planning permission and permissions granted relate to use. Emissions are separate and are matters for licensing. Take, for example, a wastewater treatment plant, for argument's sake. Considerations in that regard...

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

Darragh O'Brien: They are.

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

Darragh O'Brien: I get that.

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

Darragh O'Brien: We are checking. In fairness, there is a lot in the 2000 Act.

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

Darragh O'Brien: We will include whether there is a reference to it or if it is included in the 2000 Act. That will be with the Deputy before the end of the week. I understand this is a correction and a deletion based on legal advice we received. I must have regard to that. Deputies will understand that. The Deputy has asked reasonable questions and we will endeavour to answer them. They will be answered.

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

Darragh O'Brien: It is being discussed right now. We are not at that amendment in the grouping.

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

Darragh O'Brien: We are looking to clarify the wording. We have done some work on that.

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

Darragh O'Brien: On the Deputy's first question, we will look to clarify the language. It is an important intervention. We have had a case where a planning authority refused permission on zoned land that has been provided for housing on the basis of population targets of a previous NPF - the 2016 targets. The NPF is being revised, and the population has grown. While I do not want that to be a barrier, we...

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

Darragh O'Brien: Potentially. This is being worked through while we are discussing amendment No. 605. If there is a change to the wording in the section, it might require a revised wording in a Report Stage amendment.

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

Darragh O'Brien: It is important to note that local authorities can still refuse on grounds of lack of infrastructure, wastewater treatment and all of that. The Bill does not provide that permission for an application must be granted. Rather, it provides that where a planning authority has reached its housing supply targets set out in its development plan, that would not be a sole ground for an application...

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

Darragh O'Brien: I am not telling the Deputy there has been a prevalence of it.

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

Darragh O'Brien: Not on the sole grounds. It has been part of a reason for a refusal but not the sole reason. We are future-proofing our planning legislation. We are not just trying to deal with situations that have occurred. The Deputy mentioned population growth and the new targets we will need. This is to provide absolute clarity and does not cut across the flexibility available to a planning...