Results 2,201-2,220 of 6,904 for speaker:Cian O'Callaghan

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Feb 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: On Aarhus Convention compliance, the Minister of State referred to the SEA process. Article 7 of the convention is about SEA consultation and public participation. Article 8 is about compliance as regards laws and regulations, and secondary legislation falls into that. Our amendment seeks to ensure compliance with Article 8. The Minister of State is not accepting it. He will look at...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Feb 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: The Minister of State will come back to us at a later stage in terms of compliance around this part of the Bill and Article 8 of the Aarhus Convention.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Feb 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: I thank the Minister of State.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Feb 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: Is the principle of a resolution being passed by the Houses of the Oireachtas for all of these regulations one the Minister of State is willing to accept even if he is not willing to accept the principle around the timings around the debates?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Feb 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: I am really alarmed by this wording on orders and regulations in section 4(6). It is incredibly sweeping. Given that the Bill is centralising more powers to the Minister overall, and removing safeguards and curtailments, having such a sweeping provision in the Bill in that context is quite disturbing. That is not least because we do not have a good history in this country in respect of...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Feb 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: Did the similar provision in the 2000 Act require any regulation, under the wording of that Act, to be passed by both Houses of the Oireachtas, or can the Minister do that without a resolution being passed in both Houses? Is there a safeguard in the current section 4(6) requiring a resolution to be passed by both Houses of the Oireachtas, or does that not apply to section 4(6)?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Feb 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: The Minister of State can correct me if I am wrong. The 2000 Act had the safeguard that any regulations made under this would require approval by a resolution of both Houses of the Oireachtas. With this, most of the regulations that could be made under it do not require approval by both Houses of the Oireachtas. Is that the case?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Feb 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: The specific question I asked is whether it is the case that under the 2000 Act most of the regulations would have required approval by a resolution of both Houses of the Oireachtas whereas under this provision, that safeguard is not in place for most regulations.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Feb 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: To finish out on this, am I correct in saying that the 2000 Act required a resolution?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Feb 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: I am suggesting it is not the same. The 2000 Act required a resolution to be passed by both Houses of the Oireachtas, which is a key safeguard. This legislation does not require a resolution to be passed by both Houses of the Oireachtas but merely requires a regulation to be laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas, with the option of a motion to annul within 21 days. The sweeping power...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Feb 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: Yes, but we have a sweeping power now in this Bill that had a form of safeguard in 2000 but that is now gone.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Feb 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: It is a sweeping power. These are planning matters and this is a planning Bill. We had an incredibly expensive tribunal looking into planning matters and one of its recommendations and conclusions was that there was too much centralised power in the hands of the Minister but since then things have only gotten worse. This Bill makes it worse again and gives the Minister sweeping powers to...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Feb 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: I appreciate that but the appropriate thing to do in legislation is to provide safeguards. The safeguards around this that were in the 2000 Act are being removed and that is the issue.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Feb 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: I move amendment No. 39: In page 38, between lines 20 and 21, to insert the following: “(4) The Minister shall facilitate effective public participation at an appropriate stage, and while options are still open, during the preparation of regulations which may have a significant effect on the environment, and shall take the following steps: (a) set time-frames sufficient for...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Feb 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: The Minister of State indicated that the amendments about scheduling specific times was an issue. Is he saying that he is happy with the principle of the amendment that there should be debates, and more flexible language around the timing of those debates and for how long they are scheduled would be acceptable?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Feb 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: This is Deputy Ó Broin's amendment but I would certainly welcome the Minister of State doing that. We should be well beyond putting in that planning authorities may put in conditions that might address it.