Results 2,221-2,240 of 14,941 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 move amendment No. 477: In page 127, between lines 22 and 23, to insert the following: “(3) The chief executive shall consult the elected members, prescribed bodies and the public on the content of the interim implementation report.”.

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

Eoin Ó Broin: This question relates to section 54(4). An issue came up with the elected representatives during pre-legislative scrutiny around why only the chief executive could propose a variation during the mid-term review. That is obviously the standard procedure at present but the Department and the Minister were being asked to consider those members who were not involved in the original development...

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

Eoin Ó Broin: I will make a suggestion and do not necessarily require a response, as I will come back to this on Report Stage. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 56(3)(a), in the context of the mid-term review there should be some mechanism to allow members to initiate the proposed changes. I appreciate that the Minister of State does not want to reopen the entire development plan process and,...

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

Eoin Ó Broin: Various reporting requirements are included in the process set out in section 59. Has there been engagement with the OPR on the workload that will be required or the staffing requirements necessary to meet the additional reporting requirements of this section?

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

Eoin Ó Broin: These sections of the Bill are really problematic. We have gone from a situation where, prior to the establishment of the Office of the Planning Regulator and the SPPRs, local authorities had a wide berth - one could argue it was too broad - with regard to development plans. We then had the SPPRs, the Office of the Planning Regulator and the process by which the planning regulator tries to...

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

Eoin Ó Broin: My colleague Deputy Gould has been too generous. The precise function of these sections of the Bill is to further weaken and undermine the role of local government - not just the elected members but also the executive. As Deputy O'Callaghan has said, there is no way of reading these sections other than interpreting them as taking a system which is already heavily centralised - one of the...

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

Eoin Ó Broin: I will make a final comment because I appreciate what the Acting Chairman said, although these are important sections. I will make a final appeal to the Minister. I know he is not going to accept the amendment but I want him to consider the following argument after this meeting and during the final passage of the Bill. We are having a similar conversation to the one this committee had in...

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. 533: In page 155, between lines 36 and 37, 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,”

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.