Results 5,361-5,380 of 9,814 for speaker:Steven Matthews

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (2 Mar 2023)

Steven Matthews: It is about having the means to get to that stage.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (2 Mar 2023)

Steven Matthews: We do not know what is being proposed at the moment.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (2 Mar 2023)

Steven Matthews: I will leave the last word on that matter to the Law Society.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (2 Mar 2023)

Steven Matthews: Is the no-foal-no-fee way of overcoming that up-front cost an element that factors into this? A solicitor will probably not take on a case on such a basis unless he or she thinks it has a reasonably good chance of being successful. Are different things being relied on in that regard?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (2 Mar 2023)

Steven Matthews: Does it also act as a filter?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (2 Mar 2023)

Steven Matthews: I thank the witnesses for their engagement. It has been a very helpful meeting for us in the context of trying to craft this draft legislation in the context of making sure that what is eventually put in place will be fit for purpose for the next decade or so.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (8 Mar 2023)

Steven Matthews: I want to ask about the roll-out of solar panels for schools, which was announced in the budget last year. It is a sensible measure to assist schools with their energy costs, to provide lighting, to power whiteboards etc and to heat meals under the expanded hot school meals programme. When I visit schools and am asked when they will get their solar panels, what should I tell the teachers...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (7 Mar 2023)

Steven Matthews: We are resuming our pre-legislative scrutiny of the draft planning and development Bill 2022. We are joined by Mr. Robin Mandal and Ms Pauline Cadell, Dublin Democratic Planning Alliance; Mr. Brendan Heneghan, Terenure West Residents' Association; and Ms Pauline Foster, Recorders Residents' Association. I welcome them and thank them for giving their time to assist us in getting this...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (7 Mar 2023)

Steven Matthews: I thank Mr. Mandal and invite Mr. Heneghan to make his opening statement.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (7 Mar 2023)

Steven Matthews: As a committee, we all agree that public participation is a vital and critical part of the planning process. It would not be possible for the committee to meet representatives of every residents' association. However, in our view, given the complexities and challenges experienced by the Recorders Residents Association and Terenure West Residents Association, which is comprised of 40...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (7 Mar 2023)

Steven Matthews: I ask Ms Cadell not to go into specifics.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (7 Mar 2023)

Steven Matthews: I ask for a brief answer, if possible.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (7 Mar 2023)

Steven Matthews: We can come back to it given that development plans and various other plans have been replaced and this is an important aspect.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (7 Mar 2023)

Steven Matthews: If Mr. Mandal gets two or three questions, I do not want him to have to rush two or three answers because we will get time as we go through. We are here until 6 p.m. I just need to keep to seven-minute slots because I do not know how many people will come to ask questions but we can come back to the issue of the development plan.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (7 Mar 2023)

Steven Matthews: I thank Senator Cummins. I will take the next slot. We can come back to Deputy Higgins's questions that were unanswered. On the proposed amendments to section 5, we did not hear any evidence from anybody that came in from planning representatives, local authorities, anybody at all, that section 5 was problematic in its current form in the current Act. As a committee, I will not speak on...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (7 Mar 2023)

Steven Matthews: I will expand on that question. Most residents' associations have a chair, a treasurer and probably a secretary, probably those three positions filled. If they were to be the named persons on the observation, would that satisfy the difficulty of having to go around and collect all the names, knocking on doors like a census collector and not finding people in? We know the difficulties...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (7 Mar 2023)

Steven Matthews: That would be section 303.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (7 Mar 2023)

Steven Matthews: Section 303(1)(b).