Results 3,241-3,260 of 15,248 for speaker:Eoin Ó Broin

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: It is a straightforward amendment that relates to the procedures for the review of the national planning framework under section 21. When I was reading that section of the Bill, it seemed there was no consideration of the possibility of transboundary consultations. This has come up on a number of occasions at this committee with respect to nuclear power plants in Britain and the need for...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: The problem with the answer is section 21(2)(i) is far too restrictive in that it is departments or bodies in the North with responsibility for regional development. That does not include all sorts of other areas that would be integral to the national planning framework. Particularly if you think of the north west and the interconnectedness between Tyrone, Fermanagh, Derry, etc., and the...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I think the Chairman does himself a disservice because the amendment is sensible, well crafted and is sufficiently open to allow the Government to decide what “respond to” would actually mean. I do not think the immediate implication of inserting this would be a requirement for an individual response to be posted to everybody. The way in which primary legislation works is it...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I can go back and have a look at them now but from memory, that is the way they are. Even if there was some way of clustering submissions together and dealing with their issues rather than referencing the submission reference numbers, etc., that could work. I am sure the officials can tell us how many submissions there were to the NPF last time. It was a very large number. There has to be...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I think that is the third commitment the Minister of State has made in half an hour to come back to us on Report Stage.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: No, I am just noting it.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Have we ground the Minister of State down? I suspect not. We will see on Report Stage.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Yes, sure.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Okay. Amendment No. 173, in section 22, relates to the way in which the NPF review process deals with a variety of other plans, documents etc. I have two issues with the way in which section 22 is worded. Section 22(1) provides that in carrying out a review under section 20, the Government "may have regard to" such plans or documents as it considers appropriate. It is very different...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: We might hear the Minister of State's response first.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: The thing I am confused on is in section 21(2), it says the Minister "shall make provision", and in section 21(4), it says "the Government shall have regard to any observations", yet in section 22(1) it says the Government "may have regard". My question to the Minister of State is this: why was a decision taken to use "may" there, which is weaker language? Part of the Minister of State's...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: My apologies, but that is not the question I am asking. While I do not agree with the Minister of State, I accept his point that Members of the Oireachtas are included in section 21(2). My question is a different one. Section 22(1) provides that in carrying out a review under section 20, the Government "may have regard to" such plans or documents as it considers appropriate. It uses the...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I will not repeat the points that Deputies O'Callaghan and Boyd Barrett have made, although I strongly support them. I want to go back to the other element of our amendment, which is the weaker language in section 22(1). With the greatest of respect, the Minister of State's response to me confused the issue. In the part of section 21 that deals with the documents that come back from the...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: That is a much clearer explanation. Can the Minister of State then give me a real-life example of what a prescribed document is versus a document that may be considered appropriate?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I apologise. If the Minister of State looks at section 22(2), "prescribed" in that instance means statutory plans, such as a development plan, for example, whereas with respect to section 22(1), it could be-----

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: -----Housing for All, which is not a statutory plan, or would that be prescribed?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Again, it is just for clarity and to understand. What does "prescribed" mean with regard to section 22(2)? That is obviously a particular type of document or plan.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Just so I am clear, on foot of the passing-----

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Sure. I have two questions and then I am done with this. This is just for clarity. After this Bill passes in the form it is in, there will be a regulation and that regulation will actually list-----

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: -----what documents are prescribed for the purpose of the NPF review. It will set that out. One assumes they are documents of a higher order, such as development plans, etc. They will be listed out. That is covered by the word "shall" in section 22(2).