Results 621-640 of 11,812 for speaker:Niall Collins

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (14 Feb 2024)

Niall Collins: I am advised that the Minister of State, Deputy Malcolm Noonan, is going to look at the whole area of biodiversity within the Bill as it stands. He is going to come back on Report Stage with an alternative proposal.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (14 Feb 2024)

Niall Collins: Please bear with us a minute.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (14 Feb 2024)

Niall Collins: Is the Deputy referring to special amenity area orders?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (14 Feb 2024)

Niall Collins: I will make the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, aware of exactly what Deputy Ó Broin has just articulated. I will ask him to consider it in terms of the proposal that he is going to bring forward on Report Stage.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (14 Feb 2024)

Niall Collins: As all members will appreciate, we all want to avoid unintended consequences. If there is a change at one end of the Bill, it may have consequences for another end of the Bill. That is why it will come back on Report Stage.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (14 Feb 2024)

Niall Collins: We are just----

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (14 Feb 2024)

Niall Collins: The main section of the Bill dealing with areas of special amenity is section 242. If we are amending an earlier section, section 242, from the official side, a look-through would have to be taken to make sure there is no knock-on impact or consequential impact which would be normal in the passage of any legislation.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (14 Feb 2024)

Niall Collins: I am advised that one is recreational use and one is amenity. There might be a conflict between those two classifications of use and biodiversity.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (14 Feb 2024)

Niall Collins: What I said before the Deputy came in was that the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, was clear that he will look at the whole area of biodiversity and bring back a proposal on Report Stage. What I am advised on this side is that there may be potential conflicts - we do not know; it needs to be considered - between amenity areas and conservation areas in terms of biodiversity.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (14 Feb 2024)

Niall Collins: They are not created by development plans; they are created by the Minister, I think. I refer to section 242.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (14 Feb 2024)

Niall Collins: Recreational areas.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (14 Feb 2024)

Niall Collins: It will have to be screened on this side. Prior to the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, coming back with any proposal, the view is that some recreational activities may have an impact on a biodiversity area, and I think we all understand that. It just needs to be considered a bit further.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (14 Feb 2024)

Niall Collins: The Minister of State has given an undertaking to look at the whole area and take on board the Deputy's-----

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (14 Feb 2024)

Niall Collins: I did not say there were conflicts; I said that there may be and that the matter will be looked at. It is a fact that certain forms of recreation may impact biodiversity in special areas. For example, the cliff walk around Howth impacts biodiversity. There are activities in areas of biodiversity which damage that biodiversity.