Results 6,101-6,120 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 (7 Feb 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: I have a long list of parliamentary questions going back about five years on the rural planning guidelines. We were constantly told they would be published in the next quarter and we have not yet received them. That is for another day.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (7 Feb 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: We can do that later. I want to go back to section 22 and the Minister's planning statement. A number of years ago, a judicial review of a residential development was pretty much unheard of. The small number of judicial reviews that took place on an annual basis were mainly about strategic infrastructure developments or large commercial units. There is a mistaken perception that the cause...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (7 Feb 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: No, section 122C, relating to material contraventions. There is no formal role for the Oireachtas or public in the planning statement. Is that correct? I am not saying it is a good or bad thing.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (7 Feb 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: My point is a different one because I do not disagree with that at all. The issue is that where very significant changes to the planning code are made either through the new section 22 statement or the old mandatory ministerial guidelines, if the Bill does not have a formal role for the Oireachtas, including Oireachtas approval, that creates a problem in terms of democratic legitimacy....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (7 Feb 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: They were mandatory ministerial guidelines after the 2016 change.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (7 Feb 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: The issue is that was the case with the removal of building height caps or the introduction of a completely different set of design standards for standards for apartments for build to rent. Those two things were responsible for many of the successful judicial reviews, whether people agreed with them. Sections 22, 62 and 122C are trying to prevent that problem from happening again when a new...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (7 Feb 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: It also requires the approval of Government.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (7 Feb 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: I am not being in any way adversarial but, in respect of legal terms, while they might have different names the process is the same. The Minister and his or her officials design a policy statement which has to have the approval of Government and Cabinet. It then, in effect, becomes a significant change to the planning rules. There is nothing different this time around. It is the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (7 Feb 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: Just to press this point - in terms of the drafting and approvals of the statements, nothing will change. However, sections 62 and 122 will ensure these statements are not only enacted through the planning decisions and development plans but, ultimately, in the courts. This is a significant change, is it not? I am not passing a judgment one way or another.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (7 Feb 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: I have a final point on clarification. One instance where the old regime fell foul was in the context of strategic development zones, SDZs. I do not see any language in the sections I have mentioned that pertain to SDZs. I know there is a separate section at the end, but is it envisaged that the same procedure outlined in sections 22, 62 and 120 would be applied with respect to any...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (7 Feb 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: But it is not something we have in front of us at the moment.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (7 Feb 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: I will come in again in the next round if that is possible.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (7 Feb 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: My next set of questions relates to changes to judicial review and section 249. I will preface the remarks by saying that in a really well-functioning planning system, very little would go to judicial review. In terms of both the detail of the plan-led approach and clarity in terms of the formal decision and appeal, the planning system would be sufficient. I am not an advocate for more...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (7 Feb 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: Go ahead. I do not mind them.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (7 Feb 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: At any stage in the planning process up to that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (7 Feb 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: First stage, appeals stage, etc.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (7 Feb 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: Those are the only grounds for sufficient interest under that section.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (7 Feb 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: Section 249(10)(c) also has "directly or indirectly materially affected."

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (7 Feb 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: Does that not create an additional barrier somewhere?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (7 Feb 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: I am not promoting this but I want to be clear on the point. Does that mean that somebody could put in a third-party opinion, for example, either at the local authority or the board stage, depending on the type of application, and therefore they have sufficient interest? However, in order to submit a judicial review or seek leave for a judicial review would they have to demonstrate that in...