Results 5,401-5,420 of 9,814 for speaker:Steven Matthews

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development and Foreshore (Amendment Bill) 2022: Discussion (10 Nov 2022)

Steven Matthews: I would like Mr. Lawlor to expand on that point. I will give him more time as he is making an important point.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development and Foreshore (Amendment Bill) 2022: Discussion (10 Nov 2022)

Steven Matthews: The number on the panel should be maintained with a diverse range of skills. Ms Dubsky wanted to come in on a point that Ms Uí Bhroin made.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development and Foreshore (Amendment Bill) 2022: Discussion (10 Nov 2022)

Steven Matthews: I would like to stick to pre-legislative scrutiny of the Bill before us. There is a significant review of the planning Act which will incorporate judicial review, and the committee will be fully engaged in that. Try another question, Deputy Gould.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development and Foreshore (Amendment Bill) 2022: Discussion (10 Nov 2022)

Steven Matthews: At the risk of repeating myself, Deputy Gould, we will have the OPR before the committee. The OPR produced a very substantial report, and the phase 2 report is due out in November. The committee would be well served to invite in the planning regulator as well as the Department on its review of An Bord Pleanála.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development and Foreshore (Amendment Bill) 2022: Discussion (10 Nov 2022)

Steven Matthews: I have two final questions before I wrap up a couple of points for clarification. In respect of the current panel system, with the named entities and the selection process, are our guests satisfied at the level of oversight, governance, reporting and transparency within those organisations to perform that role?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development and Foreshore (Amendment Bill) 2022: Discussion (10 Nov 2022)

Steven Matthews: I appreciate Mr. Lawlor can answer only on behalf of his nominating organisation. Are the reports, recommendations, selection processes and so on available for examination? Are there minutes of what is discussed?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development and Foreshore (Amendment Bill) 2022: Discussion (10 Nov 2022)

Steven Matthews: We might like people who have experience in ecology and the marine environment, for example. Does the institute specify what kinds of disciplines it is looking for? I acknowledge it represents planners.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development and Foreshore (Amendment Bill) 2022: Discussion (10 Nov 2022)

Steven Matthews: Is Mr. Lawlor aware whether the other nominating organisations have processes such as that, if he can answer that question?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development and Foreshore (Amendment Bill) 2022: Discussion (10 Nov 2022)

Steven Matthews: That leads me to my next question, on recruitment and why somebody would want to be a member of An Bord Pleanála. When an organisation comes under the spotlight, as it is at the moment, and when there is so much speculation regarding wrongdoing that may have happened, it impacts on everybody who works in the organisation. In my experience of working with planners at local authority...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development and Foreshore (Amendment Bill) 2022: Discussion (10 Nov 2022)

Steven Matthews: These sessions are very helpful when we can get this expertise, where it is available, for the public to view and to know that we are trying to do our best here to reinstate that confidence and to put the best people in place. As an aside, I know a senior planner and when asked out in a social situation what they do, they say that they are an engineer; they do not want to get into that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development and Foreshore (Amendment Bill) 2022: Discussion (10 Nov 2022)

Steven Matthews: Yes, and seek free planning advice. I have one or two clarifications. Ms Uí Bhroin asked about the legal advice which we were presented with. I do not know if that is our legal advice to pass on but I can ask those who presented that legal advice if it is okay to pass it on. I do not want to pass on something that is not mine.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development and Foreshore (Amendment Bill) 2022: Discussion (10 Nov 2022)

Steven Matthews: If Ms Uí Bhroin wishes to do that, that is fine, as that will take me out of the loop. That is a good suggestion from Deputy Ó Broin.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development and Foreshore (Amendment Bill) 2022: Discussion (10 Nov 2022)

Steven Matthews: I had one other question. On the discussion we had on infrastructure delivery, I am not overly concerned about that because it could refer to somebody who is an engineer. The more people one gets into the room, the more diversity of understanding one has of all of the different aspects of planning, development, project management, etc., ecology and environment, and one should not exclude...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development and Foreshore (Amendment Bill) 2022: Discussion (10 Nov 2022)

Steven Matthews: Ms Uí Bhroin asked about the appointment of a chair and deputy chair in that process. The Department stated that the Minister is initiating a process of appointing a new chairperson to the board to replace the retiring chairperson, and will also shortly appoint a deputy chairperson, at the level under that. I am not certain if Ms Uí Bhroin was present for that part of the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development and Foreshore (Amendment Bill) 2022: Discussion (10 Nov 2022)

Steven Matthews: Does Ms Uí Bhroin wish to contribute or does Mr. Lawlor?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development and Foreshore (Amendment Bill) 2022: Discussion (10 Nov 2022)

Steven Matthews: The Office of the Planning Regulator, OPR, has done some very good work in explaining the planning system and those planning leaflets that used to be out there. People probably do not understand why the whole decision-making process takes 18 weeks or 14 weeks. It would be helpful for members of the public to know that this is what goes on in a planning decision application process.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development and Foreshore (Amendment Bill) 2022: Discussion (10 Nov 2022)

Steven Matthews: The OPR report recommended something similar. Ms Uí Bhroin wished to speak on the last comment made.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development and Foreshore (Amendment Bill) 2022: Discussion (10 Nov 2022)

Steven Matthews: This meeting has been very helpful for the committee. I thank Ms Dubsky, Ms Uí Bhroin and Mr. Lawlor. They have appeared before us several times and I have no doubt we will see them again in the future. It is incumbent on us to explain the planning process to people and restore confidence in it. Planning is a good thing; it is not a bad thing.

Water Policy: Statements (9 Nov 2022)

Steven Matthews: I welcome the opportunity to make statements on water policy. Despite many of the complaints I hear about Irish Water and individual towns and locations, we need to look at this in a broader perspective. We would all have been taught about the hydrological cycle in school. We know where water comes from. We know that water is a finite and limited resource which is under severe pressure in...

Water Policy: Statements (9 Nov 2022)

Steven Matthews: I request that Irish Water set out a very clear timeline for all of its wastewater treatment plants and drinking water plants. What action is required to bring them up to the standard for discharge and drinking water? What is the funding requirement and what are the timelines? Those need to be set out. It will help us comply with the water framework directive and make our river basin...