Results 12,781-12,800 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: Okay.

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. 551: In page 160, line 39, after “Gaeltachta,” to insert “Foras na Gaeilge, the Minister responsible for the Gaeltacht, Oifig an Choimisinéara Teanga, and any relevant Language Planning Officer,”.

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

Eoin Ó Broin: I have eight question on this section. I will rattle through them. A number are straightforward. Section 72(2)(a) states, "the chief executive of the planning authority shall consult the members of the planning authority or, in the case of a priority area plan where a sub-committee has been appointed under subsection (3)". Who decides the make-up of the subsection? Again, is that to be-----

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

Eoin Ó Broin: Absolutely. I apologise.

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

Eoin Ó Broin: In terms of how the planning authority will decide the size and composition of the sub-committee, will that be set down in a national planning policy statement or regulations or will it be left to local authorities to decide?

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

Eoin Ó Broin: They will have discretion to decide how many members will serve on the sub-committees, etc.

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

Eoin Ó Broin: Will it be a sub-committee of a local area committee or a municipal district committee?

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

Eoin Ó Broin: If the plan deals with a geographical area, such as one or two local electoral areas, LEAs, will the sub-committee be comprised of members of those areas?

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

Eoin Ó Broin: Having established that, my question is still the same. We have sub-committees of Oireachtas committees and sub-committees of the Dáil. Of what is this a sub-committee? Is it a sub-committee of the council or of the lower tier committees?

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

Eoin Ó Broin: Okay. My next question is on section 72(5), which deals with plan-making. We had a lengthy debate on the national planning framework in which we fought tooth and nail, but I do not think we won, in regard to the language around who should be consulted. The language used in subsection (5) is a little more inclusive than in that case. I am noting this because if the Minister of State...

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

Eoin Ó Broin: My point was more specifically that subsection (5)(a)(viii) uses slightly more inclusive language than what has gone before. I might move on and press the point by way of another example. Section 72(6) is very interesting.

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

Eoin Ó Broin: I welcome that. I am making the same point in noting that I really like some of the language in subsections (6) and (7). Again, this relates back to the discussions we had about more inclusive public participation. Subsection (6)(d) provides that "written submissions received before the expiry of the period specified in the notice, will be taken into consideration before the making of the...

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

Eoin Ó Broin: Yes. However, in other areas of plan-making, such as for the national planning framework, it is not included. That is my point. I am not complaining. I am highlighting an anomaly in a Bill that is meant to be about consistency. There is nothing stopping a Minister, in the context of the national planning framework, from including children and groups representing children. I am...

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

Eoin Ó Broin: On subsections (6) and (9), I assume the answer to my question is the same as for a previous point. There is a six-week turnaround time and a nine-week turnaround time provided for under subsection (6)(c). Were those timelines decided on following consultation with the local government sector?

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

Eoin Ó Broin: I have two more questions. I promise to be quick. Section 72(11) states: The members of the planning authority shall consider a report of the chief executive prepared under subsection (9) and the urban area plan or priority area plan, as the case may be, shall be deemed to be made in accordance with the recommendations set out in the report of the chief executive 6 weeks after the...

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

Eoin Ó Broin: My question is slightly different from the one the Minister of State is answering. As the Cathaoirleach noted, these provisions are in the existing legislation. It almost seems like this provision is there to prevent the elected members from delaying the passage of the plan by not convening a meeting, not turning up at a meeting or not having a quorum. The members have to come to the...

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

Eoin Ó Broin: Is that the reason the provision is there?

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

Eoin Ó Broin: Okay. My final question is on section 72(22). Again, this may be an existing provision of the Act or it may be new. I am not sure. The subsection states: A resolution referred to in subsection (11) or (20) shall require to be passed by not less than half of the members of the planning authority and the requirements of this subsection are in addition to, and not in substitution for, any...

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

Eoin Ó Broin: Yes. There is a requirement for 50% of the members of the planning authority, that is, 50% of the members of the council, to approve a plan that might only be relevant to a geographical portion of the council.

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

Eoin Ó Broin: That might answer my question. It is almost like a check that the full council gets to decide in order that the members of one particular area cannot lose the run of themselves and go off a spending spree. In essence, that is why it is there.