Results 5,921-5,940 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) (23 Feb 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: Again, I am trying to understand this as a non-planner. For example, does that mean it would make eminent sense to have national planning statements, as they are called in the Bill, dealing with densities but not necessarily with design standards? If the Government wants to say in the context of compact growth that we need to densify in particular areas, is it the case that in the forward...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (23 Feb 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: We have.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (23 Feb 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: Are there other views?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (23 Feb 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: The witnesses have had various levels of engagement with the 30-plus ministerial guidelines, which have the effect of law, as we have seen in the courts. We engaged with the Office of the Planning Regulator and An Bord Pleanála around consultation. For example, there is no formal role for the Oireachtas in the guidelines. If there are changes to planning regulations, there is a clear...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (23 Feb 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: I have three more questions. On the judicial reviews, there are different opinions about two aspects of the proposed change. Some believe it will reduce the ability of certain actors to take judicial reviews and others say it will not have any impact. According to a related argument, some say the number of legal challenges will be reduced, whereas others say the change will increase the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (23 Feb 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: The urban development zones. As of three weeks ago, they had not decided whether they would proceed by means of separate legislation or by bringing it into this draft Bill by way of amendment. Does the Irish Planning Institute have a view on that? I do not want to open up a discussion on the land value sharing tax and the urban development zones, but would it be better to be in this draft...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (23 Feb 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: Is it the view of the institute that, as matters stand, it will limit certain actors from being able to proceed to the court?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (23 Feb 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: That is what I am saying. If it is just a factual description-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (23 Feb 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: Absolutely.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (23 Feb 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: Is it not one of the institute’s core arguments that having more good-quality plan making at the earliest possible stage means fewer judicial reviews are likely to be taken anyway? In fact, the primary focus should not necessarily be on changes to the judicial review system, but prioritising improving the plan-led approach at the beginning of the planning process. That is really what...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (23 Feb 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: Back five years ago or even four years ago, there were virtually no residential judicial reviews

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (23 Feb 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: That argument was made by the board. However, part of the problem is that the volume of law, both environmental and planning, at domestic, European and - Mr. Lawlor mentioned the Aarhus Convention - international level has got so complex that the distinction between a planning matter and a legal point of dispute relating to a planning decision is far more complicated. Politicians will often...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (23 Feb 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: Many committee members share my view that we would like fewer planning matters coming before the courts. Although I have sometimes used the phrase publicly, I am not of the view that the courts are making planning decisions. There are, however, increasing volumes of conflicts between different sets of planning law, such as between specific planning policy requirements, SPPRs, and development...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (23 Feb 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: There is scepticism in Ms Brennan's voice.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (23 Feb 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: There is confusion, however. For all their faults, strategic housing developments were not the cause of the judicial reviews. They were the cause of much public anger and angst in some respects but it was the conflicts between the SPPRs and the development plans that drove that to legal conflict. With the new round of county development plans having been filtered through the Office of the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (23 Feb 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: The rationale for the Bill is to clarify, consolidate and streamline the legislative underpinning of the work the witnesses do every day as professionals. I am not hearing in their commentary that they are convinced the Bill as it stands does those things. Is that fair?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (23 Feb 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: Is it fair to say that both organisations before us believe the Bill will require a level of change to the current text?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (23 Feb 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: It is the issue of resources.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (23 Feb 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: It is clear there are not enough people coming out of college to fill all the positions that are needed. Oonagh Buckley told us she would like to see the staff complement of the board increased by 100, rather than the figure of 59 or whatever it was that was put forward last year. The CCMA told us the 500-plus staff it identified as needed in the middle of last year was just to deal with...