Results 2,061-2,080 of 14,941 for speaker:Eoin Ó Broin

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: This is my last question, Chair. Under the current system then, would the board - or the commission, as it would be called - be duty-bound to assess the appeal on the basis of all the new information?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: It could not just say, "Well, that was not in the original application so we are not considering it." It would have to-----

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Everything. That is nice and clear. I thank the Minister.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I do indeed.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: They are indeed. They all relate to section 107 and different aspects of the appeal. I will just check my notes for a second, if the Minister does not mind. Again, not unlike the last amendment, this is in part because I am not completely clear as to how this process is to work or what its intention is. Section 107 is the "Decision of Commission in relation to development in contravention...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I have two follow-on questions. I will talk separately to why I would prefer a reference to the State rather than the Government. The language that is used in section 107(3), namely "the development or proposed development is of strategic or national importance having regard to the policy of the Government", is used elsewhere when a decision is being made by a Minister or the Government. A...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I am asking how the commission would know.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: How would they know what is in the best interests-----

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: How would the commission know what is of national importance?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: What is of national importance is obviously a matter for debate. Government will argue it has a democratic mandate to make a call on something that is of national importance. We are now asking the commission to make a decision on something where it is determining that the thing is of national importance. Question one is how the commission is expected to do that. It seems to me something...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: It states, "the Commission shall give public notice". That is the same. It goes on to state that on public notice of an appeal "to which this section applies ... submissions may be made in respect of the material contravention". Will that be governed by a similar set of recommendations to the previous process?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Section 107(5)(b) states: The Commission shall not be required to give public notice of an appeal to which this section applies if— (i) the material contravention concerned is one that was the subject of a motion for a material contravention resolution within the meaning of section 96 ...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: That is fine. The Minister's view is that what is contained in section 107(5) is comparable to the similar process for the material contravention decisions of a local authority.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Perhaps the Minister will address the question as to whether it is appropriate to ask the commission to make the assessment of whether something is of strategic or national importance.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: As the Minister knows, the background to this is the report from the CCMA of two years ago which identified more than 500 posts that needed to be filled in our planning authorities but which were not at that time. When the CCMA came before the committee on pre-legislative scrutiny, it made clear that the additional 530 posts were required to do the work it had at that time, not including all...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I will respond to a couple of the Minister's points about An Bord Pleanála board and will then speak directly to the amendment. An Bord Pleanála board had a backlog prior to the crisis in the year before last. That crisis made the backlog larger. It would not be correct to say that staffing has not been a problem for the organisation for quite some time because it has been....

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I have two related questions. We received documentation from a number of the public utilities – Gas Networks Ireland, Uisce Éireann, ESB and the Dublin Airport Authority. I am not saying this is correct but just to give the Minister a sense of it, to expand on Deputy McAuliffe’s point and to say it was not just Uisce Éireann, although he is absolutely right in that,...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Seeking further information but also – I do not think the Minister was here when we had the discussion on another section – I understand elsewhere in the Bill the planning authority could still seek further information but that request for further information would not materially impact the new deadline for the decision. Therefore, it effectively made certain kinds of FI...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I just want clarity on the following point, and I think we are almost there. I am the planning authority, I am assessing a planning application and I come to a point where I will not be able to make a decision within the time period. I can use section 98. I go to the applicant and ask if I can have an extension. If they agree, the decision has to be made within a set period. One of the...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: This is only for clarity; I am not arguing the point. Am I correct in saying that if the procedure of section 98 is utilised, the decision has to be made? I can ask for all the further information, FI, I want but the decision will have to be made within the agreed time period-----