Results 20,341-20,360 of 26,350 for speaker:Darragh O'Brien

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

Darragh O'Brien: I thank Deputies O'Callaghan and Ó Broin for their contributions. The Attorney General advises policies with Government. We have to heed the Attorney General's advice. That is clear and that is how every Government should operate. The Attorney General and his team, and indeed the previous Attorney General, have been incredibly helpful in relation to getting this far with this...

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

Darragh O'Brien: What we brought forward here in this draft of the Bill has been on foot of the Attorney General's advice. I take the point. We have an issue with Aarhus Convention compliance as it is currency currently constructed. I am trying to be constructive here in saying that we are looking at the third party piece. It is not just the case that we will look at it, we are looking at it to see how we...

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

Darragh O'Brien: There were discussions with the Attorney General post-PLS as well.

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

Darragh O'Brien: Yes. Absolutely. In putting together this Bill and bringing it to Second Stage and this point we have had daily and weekly meetings with the Attorney General and his team.

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

Darragh O'Brien: I am sorry. It is complex, and all sections within the Bill have been gone through in detail not just with the Attorney General's team but with him as well.

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

Darragh O'Brien: I set out at the outset of Committee Stage that in everything that we have done, we have made sure that the Aarhus Convention is central to the Bill and that it is compliant with it. I will not go into the specific details of conversations on specific items that we have had with the Attorney General. I have explained where the advice came from. We have taken on board recommendations in...

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

Darragh O'Brien: Is that from amendment No. 76 onwards?

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

Darragh O'Brien: We can go through that when we get back here.

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

Darragh O'Brien: I will try to deal with this. Deputy O'Callaghan has just spoken about his amendment. Several amendments, namely Nos. 99 to 103, inclusive, are related. They all relate to the inadmissibility of declarations. They cannot be accepted as they seek to deem the relevant declarations as "conclusive evidence", which cannot be pre-emptively done in the legislation as the facts of the case will...

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

Darragh O'Brien: I have explained it. The amendments seek to deem the relevant declaration as conclusive evidence. That cannot be-----

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

Darragh O'Brien: There is legal advice from the Attorney General stating the declarations cannot be deemed to be conclusive evidence. That concerns first- and third-party roles. If legally binding, the court cannot consider the background. It has to take it at face value. There is very strong advice to the effect that the Deputies' amendments seek to deem the relevant declarations to be conclusive evidence.

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

Darragh O'Brien: It can be used as evidence. It can be entered into court proceedings, but you cannot look into the background. That would be a matter for the court.

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

Darragh O'Brien: I am advised that only the first party could use it.

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

Darragh O'Brien: It is related to what we were talking about regarding section 10.

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

Darragh O'Brien: First, it is not binding evidence. The Deputy is asking whether a section 5 notice that has been served could be used-----

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

Darragh O'Brien: On the first question, a declaration only relates to a point in time.

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

Darragh O'Brien: The exemption thresholds could change in the intervening period. I would have thought that we would need to review the law that was in place at the time the works were carried out. The interpretation of the legislation would then be a matter for the courts. The Deputy is asking how, if someone submitted it under the existing Act, it would be dealt with on the enactment of the legislation...

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

Darragh O'Brien: Let me just check that.

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

Darragh O'Brien: I know they are transitionary measures. Is the Deputy asking what will happen if it is before the courts already and the legislation before us is enacted?

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

Darragh O'Brien: No, it does not have a retrospective effect. It is lodged in the courts under the existing legislation in the context of the position that obtains now.