Results 1,441-1,460 of 6,933 for speaker:Cian O'Callaghan

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Mar 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: I have a comment about the statement that there has been no lobbying in this regard. The senior Minister has stated this, as has the Minister of State who is present. According to the article that was published, there were four meetings between the developer in question and the special adviser to the senior Minister. Are any minutes or records of those meetings available? Will they be...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Mar 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: They have been recorded in the lobbying register.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Mar 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: Yes, but the Minister of State is telling us definitively that there was no lobbying in relation to this amendment. There have been four meetings between the developer-----

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Mar 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: -----and the special adviser to the Minister-----

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Mar 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: -----who is located in the Department. Were the minutes of those meetings to be published, we would be able to see what issues were or were not discussed during those meetings. Transparency around that would help shed some light on this.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Mar 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: But a minute ago, the Minister of State said he was not even aware that these meetings took place. They are in the lobbying register, so they did take place. If the Minister of State is not aware that the meetings took place, how can he tell us that there was no lobbying in relation to this? If he did not know that the meetings took place, then he does not know what took place in those...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Mar 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: But the Minister's adviser presumably has interactions with the Department all the time. Is that not the case?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Mar 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: I thank the Cathaoirleach. There are two issues I want to address, namely, the taking-in-charge process and bonds. I will deal with bonds first, which I address in amendment No. 625. Much of what is contained in the Bill is about planning ahead in terms of newer housing developments and so on. As a public representative since 2009, a lot of my time has been spent working with residents...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Mar 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: I will press this. The situation to date has been an abject failure. It has put huge costs on local authorities and the public. As Deputy Ó Broin said, it is the new residents who move into areas who make the largest investment of their lifetimes. They put huge resources and work very hard to buy a home and expect that the public areas in the development will be completed as per the...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Mar 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: Regarding the circular issued in 2013, have the Minister of State or the Department carried out an analysis in respect of bonds or any issues arising from them in the interim? The Minister of State indicated that bonds are the answer. Could he show us the analysis which backs that up? Could he publish the analysis or share it with the committee?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Mar 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: Has any analysis been done by the Department over the past ten years?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Mar 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: What section?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Mar 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: I will make a comment in response to the Minister of the State and I will then speak to amendments Nos. 610, 621, 622 and 640. The approach being taken in the Bill on a range of other matters is not to leave things to local authorities. There is a great deal in the Bill that does not leave things to local authorities. When it comes to issues that affect thousands of people who buy homes in...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Mar 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: In this amendment I am trying to make sure that the local authority does a better job when it comes to bonds. That is what the amendment would do.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Mar 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: It would make sure that local authorities did not fail people on this. As legislators, it is our job to craft legislation in a way that does not leave things to the local authority but instead makes sure we address where there have been huge failings all over the country that are continuing. There is an opportunity to fix that in this Bill but the Government will not take it. All the...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Mar 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: It is positive that the Minister of State, in advance of Report Stage, is going to look at the possibility of specifying what areas should be taken in charge because there should be clarity and certainty around that. However, that is only part of the equation. There should also be certainty around the timelines on this. The Minister of State has said that the process can take time, the...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Mar 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: When I was considering putting forward these amendments, I looked at this section and wondered whether to amend it. I thought that was not the correct angle to come from. The only timelines the Bill has in respect of taking in charge relate to a local authority's decision on a taking in charge request that is initiated by residents or a management company. The local authority may decide...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Mar 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: Section 84(3)(h) could refer to the phasing of the development and the sequencing of works but it does not ensure timely completion of public areas and their being handed over to the local authority and taken in charge. It absolutely does not ensure that. Sections 84(3)(j) and 84(3)(k) simply allow for conditions around maintenance until such time as those areas might be taken in charge,...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Mar 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: I ask the Minister of State to consider, in particular, amendment No. 640. That is the one.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 Mar 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: I move amendment No. 610: In page 198, between lines 33 and 34, to insert the following: “(k) conditions determining the timeline in which the local authority concerned will take in charge of roads, open spaces, car parks and other public facilities;”.