Results 5,841-5,860 of 14,943 for speaker:Eoin Ó Broin

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (2 Mar 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: For the record, I presume it is Ms Minch's position that the status quoshould remain.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (2 Mar 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: Would it be fair to say that Ms Minch is concerned about what is omitted in the change and would lean towards improving the status quoin a more positive way?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (2 Mar 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: Go ahead.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (2 Mar 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: This is a similar explanation to that which the Department gave us. Its representatives said this was the original intention of section 5. One could argue that it has become a very useful tool for third parties in clarifying what is or is not an exempted development. If we go back to the difficulties with enforcement, in some ways it can become a tool to ensure compliance that is not as...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (2 Mar 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: I am not necessarily inviting Ms Minch to give a definitive position on the other five non-judicial review points but I would like to know what are the areas of concern or consideration she is making on them at this point in time.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (2 Mar 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: Will Ms Minch repeat that?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (2 Mar 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: This is the part of the Bill that has received the least attention in our consideration. We are very interested in hearing views on this.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (2 Mar 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: Yes, I have a few questions. First, did either of the witnesses' organisations engage with members of the planning forum in the Department? Have they had any engagement on the draft Bill up to this time, corporately as the committee or as the association?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (2 Mar 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: When the draft Bill was published, the Government said that what is proposed will lead to an improved planning regime and provide greater clarity, consistency and certainty. It also said it would make the planning system more coherent and user-friendly. I realise that it is only a draft Bill and that our guests are only considering it; however, in the last four sessions we have had, with...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (2 Mar 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: Let me ask a corollary question. If we do not take the time to get that right and if, for political reasons, there is a desire to pass the proposed legislation more quickly, what are the potential consequences of not clarifying and, potentially, improving some of the key areas the representatives have outlined, in short or summary form?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (2 Mar 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: I have two final questions. I understand there is a commitment from the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Harris, to increase the number of judges by 20 over a period, although there is no clarity on the exact areas they will be in. In this regard, I return to the point that the Chair made in the context of increasing resources rather than...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (2 Mar 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: I suspect that will happen because I understand the Minister is progressing separate legislation. The relevant committee will have the opportunity to do so but there is one limitation in that there are times when, even though the resourcing and configuration of the judicial system are a matter for the Department of Justice, a committee like ours would probably have intimate knowledge of many...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (2 Mar 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: For clarity, is it a division of the High Court?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (2 Mar 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: If one wanted to have a greater allocation of dedicated resources, not just judges but also researchers and backroom staff, who I presume are key, you are talking about a division of the High Court, similar to the Commercial Court.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (2 Mar 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: Is there an advantage or disadvantage to having a list versus a more formalised division like the Commercial Court? Keeping in mind some of us know nothing about these issues, it would be helpful for us to try to grapple with them.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (2 Mar 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: I am genuinely open to this question. Given the highly and increasingly technical nature of planning law, both development plans and State-wide plans, the increasing technical complexity of EU environmental law, the proliferation of legal judgments both at a European Court of Justice level and a domestic level, that is a lot information. There is now climate law. There are carbon budgets...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (2 Mar 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: In the context of that conversation, of the new timeline requirements, whatever they may be, that come with this, and in the background we have just opened up a planning regime for our marine, which is seven times the size of our land mass, in an area that is even more technical and of which we have very limited experience as legal practitioners, planners, planning authorities or judges, how...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (2 Mar 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: And planners.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (2 Mar 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: It is a question we asked them.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (2 Mar 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: It is not just about more judges but a pipeline of judges.