Results 13,921-13,940 of 15,009 for speaker:Eoin Ó Broin

Report of the Joint Committee on the Future Funding of Domestic Water Services: Motion (12 Apr 2017)

Eoin Ó Broin: It is interesting to note the wide divergence between the Minister and Deputy Barry Cowen on that particular point. It will be an interesting battle when we come to the legislation to see how those two are going to square that circle. I must say that this week I almost felt sorry for Deputy Barry Cowen. It must be hard when one's party, fearing a general election, throws one to the wolves....

Report of the Joint Committee on the Future Funding of Domestic Water Services: Motion (12 Apr 2017)

Eoin Ó Broin: In fact, they almost sound like the Minister, Deputy Simon Coveney, on this issue. The decisions, however, on charges and meters have nothing to do with EU law. The Oireachtas Committee on the Future Funding of Domestic Water Services received nine separate pieces of legal opinion from six different legal sources, each of which gave conflicting legal advice. One senior counsel on mature...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (12 Apr 2017)

Eoin Ó Broin: I will make a general opening comment that has nothing to do with what the Minister just outlined. I am very disappointed by the turnout today, and that is obviously no criticism of the members who have turned up. This committee has a consistent problem of very low attendances, which reflects very poorly on the very serious issues with which we are dealing, and today is a matter in point....

Select Committee on Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (12 Apr 2017)

Eoin Ó Broin: I accept all that, but this is not a one-off. We repeatedly have very small attendances at committee sessions dealing with very important issues and events. We all have other commitments. I spent ten hours in the water committee meeting yesterday and seven hours the week before and was still able to attend to my housing committee commitments. I think anyone from the public looking in on...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (12 Apr 2017)

Eoin Ó Broin: I move amendment No. 6:In page 7, line 34, after “assess” to insert “and make legally binding determinations on”.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (12 Apr 2017)

Eoin Ó Broin: I acknowledge the Minister's openness to considering changes. As I stated on Second Stage, we support the establishment of the planning regulator. It is a very important addition to our planning architecture and was strongly recommended by the tribunal. However, it is really important that we have a body that is not just consultative and that does not just evaluate and assess while the...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (12 Apr 2017)

Eoin Ó Broin: I thank the Minister for the detailed responses. Every time we go through legislation or policy, we start the conversation with the Minister telling us that he will be open to persuasion and end the process with broadly the same legislation or policy with which we started.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (12 Apr 2017)

Eoin Ó Broin: On the substantive issues, it could be a reflection on our inability to persuade the Minister or of the fact that he is not as open to persuasion as he says and that he has his mind broadly made up at the start. Let me try to persuade him a little in response to his comments. I absolutely accept that the buck stops with the Minister for legislation and policy on planning matters. No one...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (12 Apr 2017)

Eoin Ó Broin: I will not name anybody or any local authority. The Chairman should not worry. I am just making the point that being in the public eye does not necessarily produce good quality outcomes in terms of planning decisions. The Central Bank is a good example of a regulator that is publicly known and the interventions of which lead to good public debate, but we should also look at the...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (12 Apr 2017)

Eoin Ó Broin: I fully support the amendments and I can second them if that is required.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (12 Apr 2017)

Eoin Ó Broin: Those are very weak arguments. With respect to climate change, I welcome the provision depending on the outcome of the Minister's deliberations. We are in significant non-compliance with a number of very important EU environmental directives. We have until 16 May to transpose the 2014 EIA directive and unless the Minister is telling us today that it will happen, we will have a difficulty...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (12 Apr 2017)

Eoin Ó Broin: What I am saying is the Minister could accept Deputy Eamon Ryan's amendments, given their importance, to give himself an additional power to update the list by way of regulations, if that is what he is concerned about. The crucial point is that we are in serious non-compliance with some of the key directives and I believe naming them in legislation would be good.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (12 Apr 2017)

Eoin Ó Broin: I move amendment No. 23:In page 22, line 23, to delete “and assess, at least at a strategic level” and substitute “, assess and where appropriate make legally binding determinations”. As amendments Nos. 23 to 45, inclusive, have been substantively discussed, I intend to withdraw them. However, I wish first to make a point about amendment No. 49 and to hear the...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (12 Apr 2017)

Eoin Ó Broin: I could have misread the section. Does that mean that, for example, members of the public or whistleblowers within planning authorities have the facility to make such complaints?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (12 Apr 2017)

Eoin Ó Broin: That is fine.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (12 Apr 2017)

Eoin Ó Broin: The Minister's answer is fine. I am happy to withdraw amendments Nos. 23, 31, 34, 35, 38, 45 and 49.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (12 Apr 2017)

Eoin Ó Broin: I have a question. In section 4, page 13, 31W relates to the appointment of the planning regulator. Is it the Minister's intention to follow a similar procedure with the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, or An Bord Pleanála, for example, or has he designed that yet? Obviously, it is quite broad with regard to the Minister's power to appoint the regulator. Can the Minister give...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (12 Apr 2017)

Eoin Ó Broin: It is 31W in section 4.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (12 Apr 2017)

Eoin Ó Broin: I thank the Minister for that. My understanding is that for example with the EPA, An Bord Pleanála or the Aquaculture Licences Appeals Board there is a public call but the panel that provides the shortlist to the Minister is made up of sectoral interests. Sectoral interests is probably the wrong phrase; perhaps I should say people who have expertise in the area in question. In the...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (12 Apr 2017)

Eoin Ó Broin: That could never happen in a modern liberal democracy.