Results 41-60 of 10,035 for speaker:Martin Cullen

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill, 2002: Committee and Remaining Stages. (11 Dec 2002)

Martin Cullen: It is an important point. I am happy to tell the Senator that that is already provided for in the 2000 Act. I do not need to introduce legislation because it is already in place.

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill, 2002: Committee and Remaining Stages. (11 Dec 2002)

Martin Cullen: The Senator's amendment would delete the word "undue" from the phrase "the need to counteract undue segregation in housing between persons of different social background in the area of the authority." The planning authority must give consideration to this need when deciding whether to enter into an agreement other than the reservation of land within the development under subsection (3)(b). I...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill, 2002: Committee and Remaining Stages. (11 Dec 2002)

Martin Cullen: In reply to Senator Bannon, there were three aspects that were overlapping. I shall try to deal with them. There are normal development charges that have always been paid. This remains the same. The money is paid into the capital fund within a local authority to provide for water, sewerage or whatever. It cannot be paid into the general fund, it can only be used on the capital side for the...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill, 2002: Committee and Remaining Stages. (11 Dec 2002)

Martin Cullen: About 44,000 at 31 December.

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill, 2002: Committee and Remaining Stages. (11 Dec 2002)

Martin Cullen: Nor am I.

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill, 2002: Committee and Remaining Stages. (11 Dec 2002)

Martin Cullen: The Senator's contribution is interesting. She is now saying I was right to try to keep the supply alive. As we have a different approach and the same objective, how do we do it? What the Senator said was my starting point. It is how I thought we should do it, being simple and straightforward. There did not seem to be a problem. There was a problem when I examined it. It would have been the...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill, 2002: Committee and Remaining Stages. (11 Dec 2002)

Martin Cullen: I am aware of the point the Senator is making and we may be slightly at cross purposes. The levy I referred to in this instance applies specifically to those permissions which would have withered. I introduced it in order to obtain a community gain. I considered all the options and wanted to get something back, but I did not want to lose the supply. This is separate from Part V and the...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill, 2002: Committee and Remaining Stages. (11 Dec 2002)

Martin Cullen: I have brought more flexibility into the general operation of Part V. The position at present is that the 20%, or whatever is the agreed portion, must be on the specific land in development. This was giving rise to all sorts of problems. I have expanded the provision to include land swaps with local authorities and different sites. There is a final option which would cater for some areas in...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill, 2002: Committee and Remaining Stages. (11 Dec 2002)

Martin Cullen: I listened carefully to Senator O'Meara's contribution and it struck me that we have reached the same point. The best way to achieve what the Senator suggests, and for me to get what I ultimately want – if it were open to me to do so – would have been to allow all the permissions to wither.

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill, 2002: Committee and Remaining Stages. (11 Dec 2002)

Martin Cullen: The Senator should bear with me. If these withered on 31 December and the applicants still wanted planning permission, they would have to renegotiate those permissions with the 20% provision. That would have been the fastest way to do it rather than obtaining the legal imprimatur, having it tested through the courts, etc., and then arriving at the point where the applicants would have to...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill, 2002: Committee and Remaining Stages. (11 Dec 2002)

Martin Cullen: Those involved would have had to do so because they would have had to have the 20% provision. They would have been obliged, one way or the other, to renegotiate with the local authorities. We are back to square one. Allowing them to wither would have achieved the same end as that to which the Senator referred. Another approach was to opt for supply and see if I could obtain a community gain...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill, 2002: Committee and Remaining Stages. (11 Dec 2002)

Martin Cullen: The two year provision was specifically related to the withering clause in the context of a gap in the period in which the Bill was introduced and the implementation of the housing strategy. We are returning to what was the normal position. The Deputy was correct to state that there were changes in respect of the duration period, but the normal position is five years. We will return to the...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill, 2002: Committee and Remaining Stages. (11 Dec 2002)

Martin Cullen: I am not the Minister for Finance.

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill, 2002: Committee and Remaining Stages. (11 Dec 2002)

Martin Cullen: Senator O'Meara asked a good question. I was trying to create a balance between what I thought I could obtain fairly from the market and what I could deliver into the housing funds. I chose the house value figure of €270,000 because I did not want to disadvantage people in the Dublin area, where house prices are higher than the rest of the country. I took the average price of a house in...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill, 2002: Committee and Remaining Stages. (11 Dec 2002)

Martin Cullen: Every unit built under this scheme – in other words, all 80,000 units – is subject to the levy. A receipt will issue from a local authority for each house built within its area to ensure there is transparency and accountability in respect of the money collected on each unit. This is also important from the purchaser's point of view. I have no doubt that a purchaser's solicitor will check...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill, 2002: Committee and Remaining Stages. (11 Dec 2002)

Martin Cullen: It is collectable on the sale of a house. The Senator is correct in that the fund will require to be managed by local authorities, particularly those which have a large number of such planning permissions. I am optimistic in that I believe everyone knows the position, that builders will want to continue to build to increase housing stock and that the levy will be paid. Local authorities will...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill, 2002: Committee and Remaining Stages. (11 Dec 2002)

Martin Cullen: Amendment No. 5 inserts a new subsection (7) in section 96B to require local authorities to issue a receipt once the levy has been paid, a matter about which I have already spoken. This receipt is evidence for house purchasers and their solicitors that the levy has been paid and that the condition of the planning permission has been complied with. Solicitors should not allow their clients to...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill, 2002: Committee and Remaining Stages. (11 Dec 2002)

Martin Cullen: It is part of the law of the land which is the best guarantee I can give. Not alone have I set out in legislation the levy but this subsection has also been inserted. This goes beyond what we have done before and gives a double guarantee. As I stated, solicitors must be mindful of this and ensure they have a receipt from the local authority to make sure the levy has been paid.

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill, 2002: Committee and Remaining Stages. (11 Dec 2002)

Martin Cullen: Amendment No. 9 inserts a new section in the Bill to amend section 97 of the 2000 Act. Section 97 of the Planning and Development Act, 2000, provides that an exemption certificate may be sought in relation to small housing developments – developments either consisting of four houses or less, or for housing on land of 0.2 hectares, that is, half an acre, or less. This exemption was included...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill, 2002: Committee and Remaining Stages. (11 Dec 2002)

Martin Cullen: Section 14 proposes to amend section 262(4) of the 2000 Act which provides that certain regulations made under the Act are subject to a requirement to get positive approval of both Houses of the Oireachtas. Regulations determining the types of development which are approved under the special procedure which applies for certain State developments, mostly security related, will continue to be...