Results 4,861-4,880 of 7,200 for speaker:Cian O'Callaghan

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

Cian O'Callaghan: At what time will we finish?

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

Cian O'Callaghan: How is the Minister fixed?

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

Cian O'Callaghan: My concern about this relates to circumstances in which the population targets are updated, which the Department is in the process of doing. If the extra capacity, the headroom, is used up and permissions granted are activated, we could be in a scenario where capacity is maxed out and the local authority cannot refuse permission. The Minister is saying local authorities can definitely...

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

Cian O'Callaghan: Would a different way of dealing with it be to make sure the headroom is sufficient, if we feel it is insufficient, and to ensure there is a way of increasing the headroom based on non-activated permissions? Would that be a different way of trying to achieve the same result in this?

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

Cian O'Callaghan: The Minister is saying that for a local authority or a planning authority to refuse permission on the grounds of lack of infrastructure is a valid reason for refusal. Is he saying that a planning authority to refuse planning permission on the grounds that the housing growth target has been met is not a valid reason for refusal?

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

Cian O'Callaghan: Yes, a housing supply target.

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

Cian O'Callaghan: There are some areas where there is a lot of development-----

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

Cian O'Callaghan: Absolutely - and where the permissions are built out.

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

Cian O'Callaghan: I am just thinking, without naming areas, of the northern end of my constituency. There is a very significant amount of permissions there that have been built out over the years and the remaining ones are being built out now. It is not always the case in areas that permissions are not getting built out. For any further applications in an area like that where there has been a huge amount of...

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

Cian O'Callaghan: There are refusals that have taken place that the Minister is concerned about and that is why this amendment is-----

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

Cian O'Callaghan: I welcome a lot of what the Minister has said because it is in line with what I am going to say. The case I am making is that development, and what is exempted development, affects not just the landowner but can also affect neighbours and people in the community. Rather than fixing any problems with section 5, the Government's proposed wording, as it stands in the Bill, simply seeks to...

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

Cian O'Callaghan: I have one comment, which is that there was a good deal of criticism of the consultation process through the planning forum. The criticism from the IPI, given that it is the key petitioner in the area and represents the public and the private sectors, needs to be listened to. Apart from the IPI, as a formal organisation, I have also heard from planners with a similar view and this sense...

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

Cian O'Callaghan: It took me a few times to read this. I was trying to figure out the difference between 11(1) and 11(2). It is hard to see on a quick read. It is down to one word, as I see it. Section 11(1) refers to "relevant proceedings", which is defined towards the end of section 11, whereas section 11(2) refers to "any proceedings". While that is a small word, it is a significant difference because...

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

Cian O'Callaghan: -----or withheld information and so forth. Section 11(2) means that for any other proceedings, that is, that are not enforcement proceedings taken by a local authority or MARA, relating to anything in the Bill, a relevant declaration shall not be admissible in evidence.

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

Cian O'Callaghan: By anyone, surely. Section 11(1) applies to enforcement authorities and enforcement actions they take, while section 11(2) applies to proceedings by anybody else, that is, anything that is not enforcement proceedings taken by an enforcement authority. That is my read of it.

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

Cian O'Callaghan: It is subject to section 11(1), so it is any proceedings except for relevant proceedings, as defined. Section 11(1) states that in relevant proceedings brought by an enforcement authority, a relevant declaration shall be conclusive evidence. It is all laid out there. I still have an issue with section 11(2). I do not believe the changes the Minister is looking at in section 10 address it....

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

Cian O'Callaghan: It states that it "shall not be admissible". It cannot be admissible, not that it cannot be used solely as evidence.

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

Cian O'Callaghan: Sure.

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

Cian O'Callaghan: I have a small question, which is really for the Chair in terms of the procedure around this. I appreciate that we are getting the note and that is necessary here. Yet, we will have no opportunity to ask questions after we get the note or to raise any issues. Is that the case or will there be an opportunity to do so?