Results 13,421-13,440 of 26,864 for speaker:Darragh O'Brien

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

Darragh O'Brien: I thank the Deputies for the amendments. We discussed this issue at some length on Second Stage. There was a great level of discussion on it in the Seanad as well. Amendments Nos. 3, 9 and 37 relate to the issue of material contraventions of a local development plan. Again, the purpose of this legislation is to bring planning back to have regard to the development plans. The making of...

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

Darragh O'Brien: Colleagues will know this but it is important to reiterate that this relates to the application going to the local planning authority. Anyone can make an application for anything. Our process will involve a pre-application stage. Applicants coming in will have to go through the pre-application stage. A local authority may point out a contravention of the development plan in the...

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

Darragh O'Brien: I appreciate that and we will have a further look at it. I take the points the Deputies made. I firmly believe the reality of bringing forward this process will both reduce the volume of judicial reviews residents have felt they have had to take because they had no other option, given they were not a part of the normal two-stage planning process, and ensure that where applications are made...

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

Darragh O'Brien: I could not have put it better than Deputy McAuliffe. Let us take a small step back. What we have done as a Government so far - in fairness, with the co-operation of the Opposition in support of most of these measures - is ban co-living. We are getting rid of SHDs and restoring planning to local level and rightly so. We are restoring local democracy according to commitments we made in the...

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

Darragh O'Brien: I have nothing further to add on the other points but in response to Deputy Cian O'Callaghan, I remind people that we are returning planning to local authority level. Many points have been made and I disagree with some. It is the wrong place to be making drastic decisions such as those suggested. The planning review is under way. A significant review of all aspects of planning is being...

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

Darragh O'Brien: The Deputy has time to introduce the amendments.

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

Darragh O'Brien: Does the Chairman want to me to respond briefly? These are important amendments and I wish to explain the rationale.

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

Darragh O'Brien: As the Deputy rightly said, these amendments aim to provide for the use of gender-inclusive language in the Bill. While I appreciate that aim, we have consulted with the Office of the Attorney General on the amendments and it advises that the words "they" and "their" are both plural form, so their inclusion in the text of the Bill as proposed would have an impact on the interpretation 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)

Darragh O'Brien: This is an important proposal and is what we want to see happening. What I will commit to is engaging further. We engaged on the amendments with the Office of the Attorney General. I will take the matter up with the Minister for Justice. We will keep the Deputy in the loop and I will get him connected with the relevant official.

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

Darragh O'Brien: I cannot accept those amendments for the reasons mentioned by me and by Deputy McAuliffe on my behalf. There are better places to address those issues.

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

Darragh O'Brien: I thank Deputy Boyd Barrett for the amendments. These were discussed in great detail in the Seanad. There is no question but that all of us want to ensure we have adapted housing and universal design in housing for those with disabilities and we are certainly moving towards it. I have a different point of view from the Deputy. This is not a special planning process. It is the normal...

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

Darragh O'Brien: I will be quick. It is a sensible suggestion from the Deputy but the disability housing strategy is due to be published and much work has gone into it. It is something we are all serious about. There have been improvements over the years but we must go further and step it up, looking at areas for specific targets for different local authorities. There is a disability housing group set up...

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

Darragh O'Brien: We accepted a version of this amendment in the Seanad. Page 6 of the Bill has a paragraph (ga) on lines 13 to 15. I accepted the amendment in the Seanad after a number of Senators had put it forward. It now reads in the Bill: (ga) a statement setting out how the proposed LRD has had regard to the relevant objectives of the development plan or local area plan in whose area or areas the...

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

Darragh O'Brien: The Deputy is referring to specific local objectives.

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

Darragh O'Brien: I am happy that is encompassed in paragraph (ga), which references the objectives or zonings within the development plan. This is not to dump on the Deputy's amendment but the provision means a statement must indicate how the project is consistent with the development plan and any measures within that plan. I think we are covered so on that basis I will not include the amendment. I...

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

Darragh O'Brien: That says it all.

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

Darragh O'Brien: Brilliant. I am delighted to see such unity before disunity occurs.

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

Darragh O'Brien: Exactly as always.

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

Darragh O'Brien: I will respond to all the amendments together as they are related. Again, the context of this is that planning is being brought back to local authorities. We know that. On the pre-planning stage, section 32B(4), which is in section 3 of the Bill, provides that: "The planning authority may, prior to the LRD meeting taking place, consult with any person who may, in the opinion 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)

Darragh O'Brien: I will try to be helpful here. Earlier, I said that I cannot accept the amendments as they are and that I want public participation. We will see when we come back on Report Stage if there is a way, as has been suggested by a number of Deputies, whereby, maybe by way of regulation, we could issue circulars to local authorities. I have seen the issues that Deputy Ó Broin has described...