Results 4,921-4,940 of 7,200 for speaker:Cian O'Callaghan

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Feb 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: It was for the replacement of existing bus stops.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Feb 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: I think it was that the replacement of existing bus stops should be exempted developments.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Feb 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: Yes, the relocation of existing bus stops.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Feb 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: On these amendments, is the provision to be granted a licence by default because the time has expired in existing legislation? Does it reflect existing provisions or it is a new provision? Will the Minister of State answer that question now as subsequent questions depend on his answer?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Feb 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: That is provided for in the existing legislation.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Feb 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: Does the Minister of State have any statistics on the number of licences granted by default? Does he have any indication of the types of licences granted by default? Is there any pattern as regards the local authorities that-----

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Feb 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: Information on how often these provisions are being used and the types and sizes of applications involved would be relevant to our consideration. Is there a pattern of certain local authorities granting by default more often than others? If so, does that point to a resource issue in some local authorities or to a lack of priority being given to this issue in some local authorities? I am...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Feb 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: I intend to spend about 20 minutes on this, in terms of questions and answers back and forth.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: This is to make an insertion in page 63 between lines 4 and 5. There is wording relating to Northern Ireland which reads "any Department or body in Northern Ireland having responsibility for regional development". However, as Deputy Ó Broin has said, transboundary development not necessarily connected with Northern Ireland could have impacts and this needs to be covered. We spoke to...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: On section 215 and transboundary environmental impacts, the section says specifically that “the Minister may prescribe arrangements for”, and I will spare everyone from reading it all, but it repeatedly refers to “applications for permission” for development. We are talking about the national planning framework and not planning applications for development. They...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: My question about section 215 was about applications for permissions not about the national planning framework. Will the Minister of State tell us how he feels section 215 is particularly relevant to the national planning framework because I cannot see any mention in section 215 of the national planning framework or of anything similar?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: Then on section 21(3), I raised the point that in order to be consistent with the Strategic Environment Assessment, SEA, Directive, article 7 would be much better to have this explicit in the legislation. The point has been made before. There are 700 pages here. If things are buried and not comprehensively dealt with here then the chances of them getting missed increases significantly....

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: The point I am making, though, is that section 21(2) lays out the structure in the legislation for making provision for public consultation. It is listed in (a) to (j) but the transboundary issue that we are raising is not in the list. Why have a list of (a) to (j) but have the transboundary issue buried as an implicit obligation under section 21(3)? An invisible, implicit obligation.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: It is an important amendment. Learning comes from the process of getting feedback on submissions. People who engage in a public consultation process need to see what consideration has been given. If it has not been accepted, why? It may not have been accepted because it is not relevant to the process, for example, or because of some other policy objective. Over time, there is much...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: It would definitely be preferable if it was in the legislation because it is so important to the process. The phrase “shall have regard to” does not necessarily cover that level of practice. Obviously the work is being done internally and the submissions will be considered. However, it would be an improvement if the legislation recognised the need for feedback to be given out...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: I have, yes.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: And on what I said as well.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: I do not want to get into a lengthy discussion about committees and legislation. We have had long discussions around "may" and "shall". We all understand the implications of it. If the Government considers plans or documents to be relevant and appropriate, it is hard to understand why the legal obligation would just be "may". There is a huge amount of discretion anyway in that the...