Results 12,741-12,760 of 15,092 for speaker:Eoin Ó Broin

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I have some questions on that.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: It is a bit more than clarification. At this stage, I will indicate that there are a couple of sections coming up next on which a small amount of discussion would be useful. I say that because we are now getting into Chapter 6, which deals with the urban area plans, priority area plans and co-ordinated area plans. These are very important innovations of the Bill. They got far less...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: We have strayed into section 69, which is fine, if it is quicker to do that. Can this be put into plain English so that people can understand it? Regarding an urban area plan, it talks about how the development plan identifies a settlement. Is that the equivalent of a town or urban village? Will the Minister of State give us a sense of the difference between that and an LAP? It seems...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Where does it say that in section 68?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Okay, but what about in the text of the legislation itself?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: That is the point. It is not as explicit here as it is in the explanatory memorandum.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I have questions about this so I can understand. The legislation does not set out the eligibility criteria. It is the regional spatial and economic strategy that does that, as well as the county development plan.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Therefore, there is a certain level of flexibility with the regional spatial and economic strategy, or at a development plan level, as to whether they include towns.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: The Minister of State mentioned regional growth centres. Some of those regional growth centres are not just towns; they are cities. Is this just applicable to towns?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: This is an opportunity for us to provide as much clarity as possible. If we are not clear, other folks will be equally unclear. I ask the Minister of State to explain what it is we are getting with this section of the Bill. Could it cover Clondalkin, Adamstown, Sligo or Athlone? I am trying to understand the range and scope of the provision.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Section 24(1)(a).

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: The answer to the question is that it will be national planning policy statements developed at a later stage that will provide guidance to regional assemblies and local authorities. I presume that is the case because rather than being prescriptive in the Bill, the Government of the day is given flexibility through the national policy statements to decide.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Notwithstanding that, we know what the co-ordinated area plans are. I am trying to understand the difference between an urban area plan and Deputy O'Callaghan's question on a priority area plan. It is not necessarily one of scale, but rather importance.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I do not want to cut across the Minister of State, but the problem with the memorandum is that it states things that are not necessarily what the Bill states. The memorandum is trying to be helpful, but it was produced under enormous time pressure, as was the Bill. Part of what creates confusion is that we read the memo and think it says X, but we then read the Bill which states that...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: They are portions of an area in a settlement.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: To get clarity on the question asked by the Chair, when we dealt with co-ordinated area plans there was a clear timeline. We have to get new development plans in place and the legislation then sets out a period of time within which things have to happen. With respect to the urban area and priority area plans, is it the same? Do we have to wait for the new development plans?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: That is the first answer. With respect to priority area plans, this goes back to a question I asked on co-ordinated area plans. Could a city's edge be a priority area plan or could it only be a co-ordinated area plan? I am trying to get a sense of whether there is a choice for local authorities. Dublin city's edge straddles Dublin City and County Councils.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: It would only be a co-ordinated area plan because it straddles two local authorities.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: That is fine.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I move amendment No. 537: In page 156, between lines 32 and 33, to insert the following: “(v) any language plans agreed in accordance with the Gaeltacht Act 2012 relevant to a Gaeltacht Language Planning Area, Gaeltacht Service Town or Irish Language Network within the functional area to which the development plan relates,”.