Results 3,721-3,740 of 8,211 for speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am trying to say that they need to deliver. If we talk about the law of unintended consequences, let us be clear-----

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am not taking land off anybody. They are free to sell or not to sell. I am not taking land from anybody. What I am saying is that if you apply for planning permission for a large-scale residential development, you should be doing so with the intention of building. As the Senator pointed out, this is not one, two or five houses; it is more than 100 units. This is not my preferred...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I will be clear on this. The issue is that we have not learned from the SHDs. The Minister stated that this is a completely different process and that there are various incentives. We hear a lot about the incentives and the many carrots for developers but there needs to be a stick somewhere. That stick needs to be a use-it-or-lose-it clause. It is simply not enough to say we have done...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 28: In page 9, between lines 11 and 12, to insert the following: “(b) by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (1A): “(1C) Where a planning authority receives an application for permission to which section 32A(1) applies, observations shall be sought and recorded from individuals and groups and the planning authority shall have due...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 29: In page 9, between lines 11 and 12, to insert the following: “(c) by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (1A): “(1D) Where a planning authority receives an application for permission to which section 32A(1) applies it shall publish such an application on its website.”.”.

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 30: In page 9, to delete lines 19 to 27. This amendment seeks to delete page 9, lines 19 to 27. Those lines provide: [...] the planning authority concerned shall, notwithstanding section 34(2)(a), be restricted in its determination of the application, other than in respect of any assessment of the effects of the proposed development on the environment, to...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: While it is good that the application will go back to the planning authority, the authority is then constrained in what it can do with it. I noted the exception to environmental factors and I imagine it is due to the Aarhus Convention and the rights in respect of environmental planning and the rights of the public to consultation, which is a core issue. This is a second pass. It is a pass...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 31: In page 9, line 22, after “environment” to insert the following: “, changes in building and planning guidelines, obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with a Disability or other such issues that may have arisen as part of an area development planning process”.

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I have a lot of concerns about section 6, and it is important for the Minister to clarify them. These are significant changes that do not relate solely to large-scale residential developments. They are changes in respect of the principal Act and its functioning. They are changes in respect of our planning system and, indeed, our legal system and its operation. It is, therefore, quite a...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Do I speak to the amendments to the section now? I can come back in. The Minister can reply to the amendment and then I will speak to the section.

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: That is fine.

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 34: In page 10, to delete lines 24 to 27. This amendment cuts to one of the problems with this section. The concern of amendment No. 34 is the deletion of the new subsection (15) which it is proposed to insert into section 50A of the principal Act. I am concerned that the language in this section is inappropriate. I will speak to subsection 15 and then outline my...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Is the intention to create a dynamic whereby it becomes prohibitively expensive for applicants? If they lose in the High Court, they may be told that they cannot go to the Court of Appeal, but they must go because the other party, against whom a judicial review is being sought, may say that it wants to take it to the Supreme Court. Taking it to the Supreme Court, of course, comes with...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I will echo the questions put by Senator Warfield. What projects are involved? This change does not only apply to residential developments but allows for all kinds of judicial reviews to be pushed directly from the High Court to the Supreme Court. If there is a judicial review, a process that is currently being reviewed, the appropriate place to deal with the matter is in the review of...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: The section just does not stand up. There is not so great a backlog of judicial reviews in the Court of Appeal that we cannot wait one year to deal with judicial review properly through legislation. We do not need immediately to get the Court of Appeal out of the way in regard to judicial reviews. This is not housing specific; it relates to judicial reviews in general. There are many...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Looking at the amendment, it is good to see references to owner-occupiers, as long as that is additional to social housing. The Minister has been clear that this is an addition to Part V. I, of course, reserve the right to amend this new amended section on Report Stage but it is positive to be referencing owner-occupiers. There is a question of carrot or stick involved here. I understand...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 36: In page 15, to delete lines 10 to 28.

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 37: In page 15, to delete lines 29 to 32.

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: The Minister acknowledged the flaws in the SHD system. He has stated that this is a better system. This is about ensuring we move to a new system as soon and as expeditiously as possible, with all the benefits of better planning that might bring, but also ensuring that applications in the pre-planning process are rerouted into the new large-scale residential development process. It just...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 40: In page 17, between lines 8 and 9, to insert the following: “Report on vacant units in LRD development 17.The Minister shall, within 18 months of the passing of this Act, lay a report before both Houses of the Oireachtas outlining the number of completed housing units under the LRD process which remain vacant.”. This amendment and amendment No....