Results 3,321-3,340 of 14,941 for speaker:Eoin Ó Broin

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I will speak to amendments Nos. 525 and 526 together because they are related.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I will again quote from the Mahon tribunal recommendations on planning, particularly as they are directly relevant to this provision in section 65. The recommendations state: ... the Tribunal is concerned that recent changes in the planning system have resulted in an over-centralisation of power in the hands of the Minister for the Environment [now the Minister for housing] which is not...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: The problem is that the Government's view is completely at variance with the Mahon tribunal’s recommendations, including with respect to the Planning Regulator. I remind the Minister of State of what Mahon said with regard to this specific issue and to who should have responsibility for what, namely, the Minister or the regulator. The tribunal recommended that the Minister’s...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I hear the Minister of State very clearly. That is easily understood, but it does not answer the question. Why did the Government not implement the Mahon tribunal recommendation in this regard? The policy here is the very opposite of what Mahon recommended.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I hear you.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: When the legislation relating to the Planning Regulator was going through the House, I had a conversation with someone who is centrally involved in the process. I asked the same question that I have asked the Minister of State twice - he has not answer - as to why the Government did not adhere to the Mahon tribunal’s recommendations. That individual to whom I refer asked “What...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I do not dispute some of what the Minister of State said at the end. The Office of the Planning Regulator, broadly speaking, has played a very positive role in terms of its interaction with the local authorities and in respect of county development plans. I welcome this. I also welcome the fact that in almost all cases bar one, the directions recommended by the regulator have been enforced...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: That is what I am saying. My point is that they have all been implemented bar one. I return to my question, because, again, the Minister of State has not answered it. We are not talking about policy because we have made it very clear that the Government makes policy, and this is fine. On enforcement, however, I will remind the Minister of State of what the Mahon tribunal stated: ...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: No, we are talking about enforcing-----

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: No, I am sorry, we absolutely are talking about it. This is an enforcement mechanism. It is a mechanism by which a Minister can force or enforce a national planning policy statement onto a local authority that is resistant to that change. This is what this is outlining. What we have is a process by which a direction is being issued, in this case to local planning authorities. The power...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: That is fine. That is all I wanted to know.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: The Minister of State is correct.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Yes, absolutely. I am not criticising that, by the way. I think there is merit in it. That also means, however, that the statements are going to be controversial and, therefore, the additional value of coming to committee with these policy statements in some form, not unlike how we deal with exempted developments, although it may not be exactly the same, would be that some of those...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Yes.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I will give an example because the Minister of State is right that we should always think of real life cases. Let us take the Galway ring road and hypothesise for a second. Let us imagine that between now and the local elections, the majority of people in the city of Galway are convinced of the merits of the idea that the ring road is not compatible with climate action. A majority of...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Sure.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Does the Minister of State have an example of the kind of project we are talking about? Clearly this has been designed with something in mind.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: It is probably a good point to commend the Bills Office on doing this. If there are any anomalies I presume it is due to the fact it had a very large volume of amendments submitted by us. It is as much on us as anyone else. Amendment No. 1042 is a very straightforward amendment. It aims to replace the role of the Minister in approving any proposed changes to the fees and fee structure...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: It might be the theme of Oireachtas oversight that has it grouped here rather than the issue of fees.