Results 1,441-1,460 of 7,267 for speaker:Cian O'Callaghan

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Apr 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: That is my very point. There is nothing to stop this happening. That is my very point.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Apr 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: So we are in agreement on that. What we might also agree on is that it is not happening and it needs to happen. My amendment seeks to make sure this will happen. Rather than just having these provisions in the legislation that could be used and having housing strategies that clearly identify the need for the housing, there will be an obligation on a local authority to figure out the amount...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Apr 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: The Government is parting ways when it comes to the actual action we need to solve it.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Apr 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: I will look at amendment No. 919 first. Let us take that first. What is the reason and rationale for the exemption from Part V of housing on sites of land of 0.1 ha or less? Before there was more compact development, I can understand where one might have looked at that type of site and thought they could only get one or two-----

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Apr 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: Sorry, I only spoke on it because the Chair named it.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Apr 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: Because they were grouped together, I jumped straight to it. I apologise as I was not ready for it, so I had to read it. Amendment No. 919-----

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Apr 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: Yes. What is the rationale for that? I would understand if there was not denser development or whatever but, for example, ten apartments could surely fit on a 0.1 ha site. They would then be, because of this, exempt from Part V requirements. Why is the Minister of State specifically exempting that type of development from Part V?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Apr 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: I appreciate this may not apply in a huge number of cases, but an extra one, two or three Part V social homes that could be achieved in different locations is valuable if they get someone off the social housing waiting lists or out of homelessness. Would the wording “consisting of the provision of four or fewer houses” not be sufficient in terms of restricting Part V?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Apr 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: I know that. Would 3(a) not be sufficient?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Apr 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: Okay, we will disagree on that.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Apr 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: Do local authorities refuse the certificates for these sort of sites? I see these kinds of exemption certificates being applied for and granted all of the time.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Apr 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: They do not, that is the problem.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Apr 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: Then we are losing Part V homes that are needed. We are all in agreement we need as many Part V homes as we can get. To have an exemption such as this was written presumably with good intention. However, we are in a slightly different situation with some developments that are coming forward in urban areas in terms of compact growth than we would have been when this was written originally....

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Apr 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: It could be said then that local authorities could grant certificates of exemption for Part V, full stop. Why is there the 0.1 ha? I do not believe it makes sense.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Apr 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: My amendment No. 910 relates to page 405 of the Bill after line 39, "to insert the following: “(12) Subsection (10) shall not operate to prevent the zoning of land for the particular use of providing affordable housing.”." Subsection (10) is about the housing strategy and providing that there is a general policy about the tenure mix and provisions around affordable housing as...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Apr 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: I do not really understand. If we have a housing strategy that states we need to provide thousands of affordable homes to meet a housing need in a local authority area, why not then have an affordable housing zoning to ensure sufficient land is available for affordable homes? If we are not going to oblige the local authority to dissemble land at affordable prices for affordable housing, as...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Apr 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: I will make the point that in Vienna, for example, where housing is much more affordable - affordable rental new-build two-bed apartments can be rented for approximately €620 per month - they have an affordable housing zoning. They identify land they need for affordable housing, get agricultural land on the outskirts, buy it and put an affordable housing zoning on the land and then...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Apr 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: I will bring this to a conclusion. The answer is useful in the sense that this is where the disagreement is similar to my previous amendment about land assembly. It is not that any of these things are prohibited but that they are not happening. Actually, it seems that introducing affordable housing zoning is prohibited because there is no legislative basis for it and certain councillors...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Apr 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: I move amendment No. 894: In page 403, between lines 28 and 29, to insert the following: “(e) (i) have regard to the need to protect the linguistic and cultural heritage of Irish language and Gaeltacht communities including the promotion of Irish as the community language, specifically by supporting the implementation of language plans in Limistéir Phleanála Teanga...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Apr 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: I move amendment No. 897: In page 404, to delete lines 7 and 8 and substitute the following: “(f) the existing need and the likely future need, including houses, apartments and duplexes, for housing for purchase by intending owner-occupiers,”.