Results 8,781-8,800 of 15,065 for speaker:Eoin Ó Broin

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Enrolments (8 Feb 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: 241. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will provide guidance for residents of a development in an area (details supplied) with regard to applications for enrolment to schools where the development does not fall into any catchment area for enrolment purposes, and as a result, children are refused admission to schools on that basis. [6044/23]

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill: Discussion (Resumed) (9 Feb 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: I thank the witnesses for their presentations and comments. There is much I agree with, particularly on the under-resourcing of both organisations, not just historically but contemporaneously and the need for significant increases in resourcing to manage the new plan-led approach of this legislation and the other tasks they have been given, particularly maritime area planning. I have...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill: Discussion (Resumed) (9 Feb 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: Mr. Cussen is well accustomed from his previous role, to the constraints between what is required and what is available. Does he think there is a need for independent assessments and publication of estimates of the staffing levels that are required to meet these kinds of functions? Is that something that his body could or should do? There is a political process and a budgetary process, but...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill: Discussion (Resumed) (9 Feb 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: There would be nothing stopping the Office of the Planning Regulator, given its independent role, from publishing such independent reviews on resourcing, irrespective of whether the Government asks it to do that or not. That could be an important function for the regulator.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill: Discussion (Resumed) (9 Feb 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: Just do not ask Mr. Cussen to do it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill: Discussion (Resumed) (9 Feb 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: Unfortunately, my short experience in this House is that these kinds of technical Bills do not change an awful lot between now and their final passage. I hope I will proved wrong on this occasion.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill: Discussion (Resumed) (9 Feb 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: It is never the Department that is the problem, Chair, but we will deal with that another day. I agree with Ms Buckley's point on timelines. I am a strong advocate of timelines but they have to make sense and be appropriate to the decision that is made. They also have to be properly resourced. I appreciate that An Bord Pleanála is engaging with the Department, but ultimately it is...

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

Eoin Ó Broin: I thank Mr. Hogan and his team for the presentation and for all of their efforts on this issue. I will make some opening remarks and then ask some questions. In my view, a good planning system is one that makes high-quality planning decisions in a timely manner but with meaningful public participation. That is something for which many of us in this committee have argued for a long time....

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

Eoin Ó Broin: I do not want to cut across Mr. Hogan, but our time is limited. Are the 541 posts to meet existing requirements?

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

Eoin Ó Broin: I assume to then ensure the full delivery of the aspiration in this very significant Bill, there will need to be a significant increase beyond that, in particular if we are going to have a significant increase in new plans or statutory timelines for decisions. Would that be a reasonable assumption?

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

Eoin Ó Broin: There will be need for more than 451 posts.

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

Eoin Ó Broin: The second area of questions relates to the planning statements, which will replace the section 28 mandatory ministerial guidelines, how the planning statement then relates to section 62, which is expedited, and then the development plans where the development plan is no longer consistent with the new planning statement and section 120(2)(c) material contraventions. In the short time...

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

Eoin Ó Broin: It is to do with the national planning statements. The intention is for that power to replace what we currently understand as the section 28 ministerial guidelines. That new planning statement provision also then interacts with sections 62 and 120. When a Minister, for example, introduces a planning statement, there is a procedure for a fast-track to change the development plan and a...

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

Eoin Ó Broin: I have a long list of parliamentary questions going back about five years on the rural planning guidelines. We were constantly told they would be published in the next quarter and we have not yet received them. That is for another day.

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

Eoin Ó Broin: We can do that later. I want to go back to section 22 and the Minister's planning statement. A number of years ago, a judicial review of a residential development was pretty much unheard of. The small number of judicial reviews that took place on an annual basis were mainly about strategic infrastructure developments or large commercial units. There is a mistaken perception that the cause...

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

Eoin Ó Broin: No, section 122C, relating to material contraventions. There is no formal role for the Oireachtas or public in the planning statement. Is that correct? I am not saying it is a good or bad thing.

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

Eoin Ó Broin: My point is a different one because I do not disagree with that at all. The issue is that where very significant changes to the planning code are made either through the new section 22 statement or the old mandatory ministerial guidelines, if the Bill does not have a formal role for the Oireachtas, including Oireachtas approval, that creates a problem in terms of democratic legitimacy....

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

Eoin Ó Broin: They were mandatory ministerial guidelines after the 2016 change.

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

Eoin Ó Broin: The issue is that was the case with the removal of building height caps or the introduction of a completely different set of design standards for standards for apartments for build to rent. Those two things were responsible for many of the successful judicial reviews, whether people agreed with them. Sections 22, 62 and 122C are trying to prevent that problem from happening again when a new...