Results 2,041-2,060 of 6,904 for speaker:Cian O'Callaghan

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Feb 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: For clarity, the article is signed by Gavin Lawlor, president of the Irish Planning Institute. It is specifically about this Bill and he specifically mentions the issues we are discussing now. He says: Unnecessary changes include amendments to the process ...allowing the public to seek declarations on whether a particular development needs planning permission. At their core, these seek...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Feb 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: I am speaking on my amendments Nos. 66, 67, 69, 71, 91, 93, 94, 96, 101 and 103. The last ones are slightly different as they talk about a relevant declaration. Essentially, these amendments are well grouped. Almost all of them simply seek to keep the provisions in the Planning and Development Act 2000. The Government is proposing to take out a small number of words, but they are...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Feb 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: I have a short point.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Feb 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: The Minister has referenced looking at the environmental groups. To give an example, you could have a very scenic area of natural beauty. You could have development that takes place in it. The people who carry out the development may view it as being exempted development but there are lots of people who that could have an impact on, and who might have an opinion on it. It is not just...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Feb 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: I am sorry. I apologise. That is just the point I wanted to make - that it is fine as an example, but I hope when the Minister is looking at this he will look at restoring third party rights. There is a variety reasons as to why a wider group of people have an interest.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Feb 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: Although amendment No. 101 is in the grouping and we had a good discussion on the issues related to that grouping, I did not address the specifics in the amendment. It seeks to insert that a relevant declaration, which is a declaration under what we know as a section 5 process, shall be admissible in evidence in any proceedings brought by a person, other than an enforcement authority,...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Feb 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: Can I be left out of all these examples, please?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Feb 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: I welcome a lot of what the Minister has said because it is in line with what I am going to say. The case I am making is that development, and what is exempted development, affects not just the landowner but can also affect neighbours and people in the community. Rather than fixing any problems with section 5, the Government's proposed wording, as it stands in the Bill, simply seeks to...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Feb 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: I have one comment, which is that there was a good deal of criticism of the consultation process through the planning forum. The criticism from the IPI, given that it is the key petitioner in the area and represents the public and the private sectors, needs to be listened to. Apart from the IPI, as a formal organisation, I have also heard from planners with a similar view and this sense...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Feb 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: It took me a few times to read this. I was trying to figure out the difference between 11(1) and 11(2). It is hard to see on a quick read. It is down to one word, as I see it. Section 11(1) refers to "relevant proceedings", which is defined towards the end of section 11, whereas section 11(2) refers to "any proceedings". While that is a small word, it is a significant difference because...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Feb 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: -----or withheld information and so forth. Section 11(2) means that for any other proceedings, that is, that are not enforcement proceedings taken by a local authority or MARA, relating to anything in the Bill, a relevant declaration shall not be admissible in evidence.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Feb 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: By anyone, surely. Section 11(1) applies to enforcement authorities and enforcement actions they take, while section 11(2) applies to proceedings by anybody else, that is, anything that is not enforcement proceedings taken by an enforcement authority. That is my read of it.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Feb 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: It is subject to section 11(1), so it is any proceedings except for relevant proceedings, as defined. Section 11(1) states that in relevant proceedings brought by an enforcement authority, a relevant declaration shall be conclusive evidence. It is all laid out there. I still have an issue with section 11(2). I do not believe the changes the Minister is looking at in section 10 address it....

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Feb 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: It states that it "shall not be admissible". It cannot be admissible, not that it cannot be used solely as evidence.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Feb 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: Sure.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Feb 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: I have a small question, which is really for the Chair in terms of the procedure around this. I appreciate that we are getting the note and that is necessary here. Yet, we will have no opportunity to ask questions after we get the note or to raise any issues. Is that the case or will there be an opportunity to do so?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Feb 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: Can we come in at that point, before there is a vote on it?