Results 5,761-5,780 of 25,732 for speaker:Darragh O'Brien

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (13 Feb 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: I thank the Cathaoirleach and members of the committee. We will all be acutely aware of the significance of this Bill. It is one of the largest in the history of the State, running to over 700 pages and 541 sections. It is complex. It necessarily requires and includes multiple cross-references both internally and in relation to other regulations and legislation, which must be kept...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (13 Feb 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: That is the Long Title. It is just a procedural issue that it is taken at the very end. I asked that question last week. It will be taken at the very end.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (13 Feb 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: I thank Deputy Cian O’Callaghan for introducing his amendments and explaining the rationale behind them. To be helpful, I refer to section 46 - I will deal with the amendment as well - which relates to the obligation to prepare a strategy relating to creation, improvement, preservation of sustainable places and communities. This deals with the local authority development plans as...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (13 Feb 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: Deputy O'Callaghan put it very well when he said that he is talking not just about housing here but also about the public realm, and that is why I would again refer him to section 46. That puts, and rightly so, an onus on the local authorities in the preparation of their development plans to ensure for persons with disabilities that the disability strategy place is in place, not just for...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (13 Feb 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: Not to repeat, and I will come back specifically with regard to Part M, but there is no formal review of that. I have engaged with groups myself on it, and we have to ensure with any changes that developments continue and that any changes are appropriate, and that would happen. I am still of the firm belief the best place for this is the criteria within the development plan that drives the...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (13 Feb 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: What I said is there is no formal review of Part M right now, but I have engaged with groups specifically on it.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (13 Feb 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: I know what those groups have asked for and I have engaged with them and we have assessed the feedback and the asks they have. That is being reviewed at the moment.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (13 Feb 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: We all want to ensure developments are accessible for people. Anyone, by way of fair assessment, will see that developments under way now and that have been in recent years provide much better quality of life for people of all generations and all abilities. What we have to do, as Deputy O'Callaghan has said, is to ensure that underpinning our development plan are things like our public...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (13 Feb 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: I will respond very briefly. There are a number of amendments to get through but this is a very important topic. I have no doubt we will come back to persons with disabilities right the way through the course of our deliberations. It goes without saying there are many people with disabilities who are living in inappropriate accommodation right now. That is why it is important we continue...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (13 Feb 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: To be helpful, I am quite happy, at the appropriate time, to provide Deputy O'Callaghan with a note on the work that has been done and is being done. It can also be for Deputy Ó Broin and others who have raised it at the committee. It will not be for tomorrow, but there has been engagement there. I have been dead straight with members that there is no formal review under way. To...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (13 Feb 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: They are guided by that anyway, but it is reinforced here and, as I said-----

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (13 Feb 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: This is a consolidated Bill. As I said earlier, there are many elements of this legislation that were taken from the Planning and Development Act 2000 because they are working and are appropriate. We have not thrown everything out. That reaffirms it. There will be changes to the development plan process, as the Deputy knows, which we will get to later on, but this is one of our principles...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (13 Feb 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: I take the points that are being raised, but the wording is not “shall have regard to” it is “shall include”.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (13 Feb 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: No, I do not think so. The Deputy has experience in South Dublin County Council. I do not think it is weaker. I put it to the Deputy that the phrase "shall include" is stronger. All local authorities will be aware that access, liability, universal design but also design for people with disabilities are at the forefront of all design brought forward and in all new developments as well....

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (13 Feb 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: To be helpful, to go back to the first line of that paragraph, it says “A planning authority shall prepare a strategy”. So it is the objectives within that strategy. We are not saying that a planning authority might have to do this or it might not. It says that the strategy be prepared as part of the development plan. That is very clear. I think it is very strong. I say...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (13 Feb 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: I fully respect the Deputy’s right to do so. That is fine. To be helpful, as we go on, we will give a comparison between the existing wording, which I do not have to hand, and the new wording, which we can get to the Deputy. It would probably be appropriate to have that tomorrow. It is important that we not only speak on the strategies themselves but also that we see what is...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Wastewater Treatment (8 Feb 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: I can confirm that in April 2022, my Department in conjunction with the local authorities completed a report on waste water needs of villages not served by public waste water collection systems. Included in the Report is a nationwide listing of all villages and similar settlements without access to public waste water infrastructure. My Department will provide a full list of these...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Rental Sector (8 Feb 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: The Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) was established a quasi-judicial independent statutory body under the Residential Tenancies Acts 2004-2022, to operate a national tenancy registration system and to facilitate the resolution of disputes between landlords and tenants and as such, the dispute resolution process is an operational matter for the RTB. My Department does not hold the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (8 Feb 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: Requests for housing transfers are considered solely by the relevant local authority concerned in accordance with that authority’s allocation scheme, which is made by the elected members under section 22 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 and in compliance with Social Housing Allocation Regulations 2011, as amended. Local authorities are responsible for assessing...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Planning Issues (8 Feb 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 223 and 224 together. An Bord Pleanála (the Board) is the national independent statutory body with responsibility for the determination of planning appeals and direct applications for strategic infrastructure and other developments under the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, and certain other Acts. There are now more people working at the...