Results 1,621-1,640 of 14,943 for speaker:Eoin Ó Broin

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Construction Industry (16 Apr 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: 398. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if his Department has undertaken any analysis of likely future trends in construction sector inflation and how it pertains to the funding commitments under the Government housing plan to 2030. [16418/24]

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Apr 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I welcome the Minister of State to the select committee's eighth week of deliberations on the Planning and Development Bill. My two amendments are related. They relate to section 348, which deals with the issue of fees for an coimisiún pleanála. What I am trying to do in the amendments is have some set of considerations included in order that the Minister, when approving fees...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Apr 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I am not surprised by the answer. Are the Minister of State and his officials absolutely satisfied that by simply replicating the existing regime in terms of the fee-setting mechanism, no individuals or groups who should, by right and by law, have an opportunity to participate in the planning process will be excluded from doing so? Has that been considered in order to ensure that we have a...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Apr 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I have a final question. Obviously, the mechanism is being transposed. At this stage, is the expectation that the fees will continue to remain broadly as they are set out? Are there any plans in the short to medium term to have those reviewed or amended?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Apr 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: If and when a decision is made on that, I presume it will not require any change to the legislation before us and that it will be done by regulation or ministerial order rather than legislative change.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Apr 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: That is something for the Chair, Deputy Matthews, to note. Given that the issue of the local authority fees was such a live topic during the pre-legislative scrutiny phase, it would be appropriate for us to suggest to the Minister that in advance of those regulations being finalised, some engagement with the committee would be more than welcome. We have a keen interest in this issue...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Apr 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I am not convinced that is a credible answer, although I appreciate it is the one the Minister of State has been given. Let us think about it for a second. A large-scale planning application goes in and there are significant fees on behalf of the applicant which, if the application is to the board is reflective of the cost but if it is to the local authority, it is not. That is why we have...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Apr 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Absolutely.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Apr 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: To be clear, my question is not about the fees of the applicant. They have to be paid. It is the fees of the third party. I see that a vote has been called.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Apr 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: It would be terrible to miss the Taoiseach's first vote.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Apr 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I have two questions. First, on page 297, section 159(2)(a), I refer to the word "abandoned". It states: "Without prejudice to subsection (1), where the planning authority or the Commission is of the opinion that an application, appeal or request made to it has been abandoned...". What does abandoned mean and who gets to decide? That is my first question. It is clear when something is...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Apr 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: The assumption is that they are just not going to. Is it a six-month period that people have for the finished information?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Apr 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Is that the only case in which it would be assumed abandoned?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Apr 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Separate to FOI, which is during the actual initial decision-making period.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Apr 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Okay. My second question is on section 159(4). It is a very quick question in relation to the grounds where something would be deemed invalid. Are these new or existing provisions?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Apr 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Nothing has changed from what is currently in the 2000 Act, as revised, or the Planning and Development (Large Scale Residential Developments) Act 2001.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Apr 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Effectively no or no?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Apr 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: So it is not that that category of development is not captured under the current Act; it is just the language used to describe it that is different.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Apr 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Okay, that is fine. I thank the Minister of State.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Apr 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I support the amendment. Let us give the Minister of State some real-life cases. There is an infamous residential developer in the city and county of Dublin.