Results 8,581-8,600 of 14,981 for speaker:Eoin Ó Broin

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (1 Dec 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I move amendment No. 9: In page 5, between lines 19 and 20, to insert the following: "(iii) that materially contravenes the relevant city or county development plan, other than in exceptional circumstances as set out in regulations by the Minister,".

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (1 Dec 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I support both the amendment and the intent behind the amendment. The Minister has made his position on the amendment clear but I ask him to progress the upcoming review of Part M of the building guidelines as a matter of urgency to improve the level of universal design within our building system overall. He might pay particular attention to the very strong advocacy of the Irish Wheelchair...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (1 Dec 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: Yes. I also support Deputy O'Callaghan's amendments. On a number of occasions, the Minister has said that he wants to move towards a plan-led approach to planning. I completely agree with him on that. However, there is not a wild lot of plan-making in this Bill beyond what is already available. That is not a criticism of the Bill. It is just not what this Bill does and, therefore, there...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (1 Dec 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I thank the Minister for the reply. I know I am not going to convince him to change his mind. I would like to just press the value of involvement in pre-planning for him to consider. A site in Clondalkin many years ago had been subject to controversial Celtic tiger-era planning applications. The site was eventually sold to a new developer. That developer wanted to ensure that, to the...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (1 Dec 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I apologise to Deputy Cian O'Callaghan. We had a conversation about it but we overlooked talking to him.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (1 Dec 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: There is no Labour member of the select committee.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (1 Dec 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: If Deputy McAuliffe needs any encouragement, there are plenty of us on the Opposition benches who will give him all the encouragement he needs to press the amendment. Unfortunately, however, he proposed to withdraw his amendment before we could give him that encouragement.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (1 Dec 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I have a question on section 4. Could the Minister add his response to his response to Deputy O'Callaghan's amendments? The Minister has been given power to make regulations that could restrict the types or frequency of further information requests at the latter end of the formal planning decision process of the local authority. Will the Minister give an indication on the record of those...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (1 Dec 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I wish to probe the Minister's comments on the regulations. How will "reasonable" be defined in that context and how will it be policed or enforced? If, for example, a matter arises about which a local authority considers it reasonable to request further information, a decision which the regulation seems to conflict with, how will that be managed or adjudicated? There are likely to be...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (1 Dec 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I have a more general question for the Minister on section 6. Perhaps he can include his reply alongside Deputy Nash's. Section 6 has a very incongruous presence. It is not in any way in my view related to large-scale residential developments or housing developments of any kind whatsoever. I listened carefully to the Minister's response to my colleague, Senator Warfield, in the Seanad...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (1 Dec 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: Does the Minister want to respond to the amendments first and I will come back in?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (1 Dec 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: Whichever is easiest. It might be helpful for the Minister to respond to amendments Nos. 36 and 38 and then we can address the section. Unless Deputy Ó Broin wants to speak on amendment No. 36, I will invite the Minister to respond.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (1 Dec 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: This is a really incongruous section. It does not belong in this legislation at all. I do not accept, and have yet to hear a convincing argument, that it is in any way related to LRDs. My understanding is it is what is often called a leapfrog provision whereby on foot of a judicial review, where one party seeks appeal to the Court of Appeal, the other party can attempt to leapfrog the...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (1 Dec 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: As this is a significant legal change, it is important that we tease it out. Let us be clear that when this large-scale residential development process is in place, people will enter the pre-planning process and then the formal planning process and may then decide to appeal that to the board. There may then be judicial reviews. All of that will take the guts of nine to 12 months. There...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (1 Dec 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I would be interested to hear the explanation of the Minister in respect of why this provision is now so important as to merit inclusion in the Bill but it was not contained in an earlier general scheme of the judicial review legislation. It has come out of nowhere, whereas we have a general sense of what the previous Government and the officials were working towards in terms of the judicial...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (1 Dec 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I fully support the two amendments. I ask the Minister to clarify the following in his response. My understanding, having listened to his comments previous to the introduction of these amendments, was that this was part of the attempt to ensure that at least 50% of the residential development of houses and duplexes would be made available for owner-occupation. I do not see how the...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (1 Dec 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I support the intention behind the amendment. I would like to understand how the text of the amendment relates to a previous commitment of around 50%. It seems to me that the wording of this section gives the local authority much more flexibility, which in my view is a good thing. So a local authority, in its development plan, on foot of a recommendation by a chief executive, if I read...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (1 Dec 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: In my view, this is probably the weakest section of the Bill. I want to spend a little bit of time going through why in support of the amendments. A small section of amendment No. 49 is missing. It is probably my fault at the submitting end rather than the Bills Office. I might come back to it on Report Stage. The original legislation Eoghan Murphy amended during the lifetime of the...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (1 Dec 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I return to the second transitionary mechanism, for those people who do not have pre-planning approval from the board to make their SHD application, because that is the one I think the Minister has got wrong. I say this in all sincerity. My main worry is that applications could come in at a late stage. They have only to enter the pre-planning application process for SHDs by 16 December....

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (1 Dec 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I move amendment No. 47: In page 17, line 15, to delete “16 weeks” and substitute “8 weeks”.