Results 81-100 of 1,734 for at speaker:Steven Matthews

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Mar 2024)

Steven Matthews: To clarify further, will that be in conjunction with the summary report so that people like myself, Deputy Ó Broin or Deputy O’Callaghan, who like to trawl the OPR website, will be able to see the summary and also have eyes on all submissions at the same time?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Mar 2024)

Steven Matthews: I do not want to move on to section 490, although I would not mind being at that point.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Mar 2024)

Steven Matthews: We previously discussed that at quite some length.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Mar 2024)

Steven Matthews: Yes. I will suspend the meeting for 30 minutes and we will meet back at 3.30 p.m. At that point I will put the question on amendment No. 297.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Business of Select Committee (20 Mar 2024)

Steven Matthews: That is fine. The proposal is that the second session be from 6.30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Is that agreed? Agreed. This session is from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. I am proposing to take a break at some point, perhaps around the two-hour mark.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Mar 2024)

Steven Matthews: No, but perhaps the Minister of State could look at it because stronger wording again is needed. Amendment No. 435 relates to section 51 on page 113 of the Bill, which concerns the development plan being reviewed before a new one being prepared. I suggest in this amendment an analysis of the modal shift and transport patterns that may have developed over the previous development plan. We...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Mar 2024)

Steven Matthews: We will not get to those tonight in any way at all and possibly not even tomorrow. It will very much depend on whether everybody attends the committee. In that case we would probably get through the votes in a much more timely manner. Does Deputy Ó Broin wish to speak to amendment No. 456?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Mar 2024)

Steven Matthews: At the moment, I do not feel we have enough attention on district heating systems and I feel they will be very much part of our energy and climate transition. However, it is covered under “energy” in that the Minister of State will accept that.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Mar 2024)

Steven Matthews: On that basis, I will withdraw amendment No. 455. I wrote amendment No. 446 prior to the biodiversity action plan becoming a statutory document. We have had much discussion, especially with the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, on this. The Minister will review how we look at biodiversity protection and consultation in relation to it. On that basis, I am happy to withdraw amendment No....

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Mar 2024)

Steven Matthews: Yes, but the Bill states "by notice in writing". The decision not to comply with it might be made in public or at a public meeting, but then a notice in writing which "shall contain a statement of the reasons for not complying" must be provided. What I want to know is whether that written notice is a public document.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Mar 2024)

Steven Matthews: I would take it as referring to the list of persons who made submissions. If the interpretation here is that a submission can be written or verbal at a meeting, then section 53(12)(c)(ii) requires the provision of a summary of the recommendations and submissions made by the Minister and recommendations and submissions made by the Office of the Planning Regulator. In this context, I am happy...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Mar 2024)

Steven Matthews: Well, it could refer to any written submissions by elected representatives in respect of the process. I would imagine that the report of the chief executive would, though, encapsulate submissions made at a meeting as well.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Mar 2024)

Steven Matthews: Okay. Let me try to clear this up. If an elected member makes a written submission to the chief executive as part of this process, which I presume they are entitled to do, that would be provided as part of the summary of the recommendations and submissions made by the Minister and the OPR and the summary of submissions made by elected representatives to the process, but not their verbal...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Mar 2024)

Steven Matthews: Okay. The next amendment is No. 490. This refers to the variation of a development plan and relates to section 56. Again, we have had a discussion on this matter. It states that the chief executive's report should include submissions by public representatives separately. I have used the term "elected members". It should be a separate category from others in terms of submissions. There...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Mar 2024)

Steven Matthews: We were going to break at 3 p.m. anyway because of the changeover of Ministers. We have a vote in the Dáil Chamber on the Order of Business so I will suspend the meeting and suggest we take a 25 or 30-minute break.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Mar 2024)

Steven Matthews: Okay. That is grand. I will withdraw amendments Nos. 480 and 490 on that basis. Amendment No. 501 is the last in the grouping. Section 60 relates to the expedited variation of a county development plan. We had this discussion already on the regional spatial and economic strategy. This provides, in section 60(3), that "the chief executive shall, with a view to avoiding duplication of...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Mar 2024)

Steven Matthews: We will bring in the officials. To the rest of the members, I do not think we will have any more votes tonight, so we will see the rest of the members all at 9 a.m. tomorrow. We still have a lot of votes to get through, so full attendance would really assist us if it is possible.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Mar 2024)

Steven Matthews: Amendments Nos. 276, 277 and 278 are all very closely related so I will take them all together. This relates to the monitoring of the regional spatial and economic strategy. The Bill proposes that "A local authority ... shall, within 3 years of the first occasion on which a regional spatial and economic strategy is made or revised ... and every 4 years thereafter, prepare and submit a...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Mar 2024)

Steven Matthews: It is, so I am just wondering why we would double that period now. The regional assemblies were represented at the pre-legislative scrutiny stage. I am open to correction on this, but at the time I did not hear them say that this two-year reporting process was overly onerous. Regarding something as important as planning, when we set these targets, especially those that go from national, to...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Mar 2024)

Steven Matthews: On the previous three amendments, I find it hard to accept that it is just because a development plan will go from six-year period to a ten-year period. It will incorporate more objectives and it will have a greater reach and actions within it. That does not mean that you should monitor it less, just because it is over a longer period. The reasoning is, therefore, to go from a two-year...