Results 1,761-1,780 of 9,814 for speaker:Steven Matthews

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Mar 2024)

Steven Matthews: I welcome everyone back.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Mar 2024)

Steven Matthews: Amendment No. 239 is grouped with a number of other amendments. These are amendments Nos. 240 and 241, 243, 245, 249, 250, 266, 267, 271 and 275 to 279, inclusive. Will Deputy Ó Broin or Deputy O'Calllaghan move amendment No. 239 and speak to the amendments in that group? I will let them apply whatever logical order they want themselves.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Mar 2024)

Steven Matthews: Regarding amendments Nos. 241 and 243, I do not know how these are logically grouped.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Mar 2024)

Steven Matthews: I thank the Minister of State. Does Deputy Boyd Barrett wish to come in?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Mar 2024)

Steven Matthews: We will discuss "cultural spaces" again under amendment No. 249. Is Deputy Ó Broin satisfied with the Minister of State's previous answer?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Mar 2024)

Steven Matthews: Amendment is No. 250 is in my name, so I will skip it for the moment. Amendment No. 266 is in the names of Deputies Cian O'Callaghan, Ó Broin and Boyd Barrett. It relates to the water framework directive.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Mar 2024)

Steven Matthews: Amendment No. 250 relates to section 27(5), the content of a regional spatial and economic strategy, on page 71. This amendment seeks to try to clarify a reference in subsection (5) to something called a "commuting zone". I do not know the definition of a "commuting zone" but we have certainly seen over the years in the context of planning that a commuting zone has become more and more...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Mar 2024)

Steven Matthews: Thanks. It is just to bring clarity to the process.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Mar 2024)

Steven Matthews: Amendment No. 267 refers to section 30(11), which deals with the preparation or revision of regional spatial and economic strategy and the process involved. Section 30(11) provides that a regional assembly shall have regard to any observations and recommendations received during the process. Similar to what I had suggested in respect of the national planning framework and the Minister, it...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Mar 2024)

Steven Matthews: I am happy to withdraw it on that basis. When I use the term "respond to", I do not mean to respond to each submission. As with the chief executive's report, I mean the submissions received can be collated, grouped and so on. The aim is just to have some sort of overall response.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Mar 2024)

Steven Matthews: Amendments Nos. 276, 277 and 278 are all very closely related so I will take them all together. This relates to the monitoring of the regional spatial and economic strategy. The Bill proposes that "A local authority ... shall, within 3 years of the first occasion on which a regional spatial and economic strategy is made or revised ... and every 4 years thereafter, prepare and submit a...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Mar 2024)

Steven Matthews: I welcome the Minister of State's response on amendment No. 277 and I look forward to returning to that on Report Stage. In relation to amendments Nos. 276 and 278, this Bill proposes a four-year period, but it is my understanding that the Planning and Development Act 2000 had a two-year period.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Mar 2024)

Steven Matthews: No, it was-----

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Mar 2024)

Steven Matthews: It was for the local authorities to feed progress reports into the regional assemblies. Was that not done every two years originally? Currently, it is done every two years.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Mar 2024)

Steven Matthews: It is, so I am just wondering why we would double that period now. The regional assemblies were represented at the pre-legislative scrutiny stage. I am open to correction on this, but at the time I did not hear them say that this two-year reporting process was overly onerous. Regarding something as important as planning, when we set these targets, especially those that go from national, to...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Mar 2024)

Steven Matthews: On the previous three amendments, I find it hard to accept that it is just because a development plan will go from six-year period to a ten-year period. It will incorporate more objectives and it will have a greater reach and actions within it. That does not mean that you should monitor it less, just because it is over a longer period. The reasoning is, therefore, to go from a two-year...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Mar 2024)

Steven Matthews: Amendment No. 279 refers to section 35(3), which states that: In carrying out any screening assessment under subsection (2), the director of the regional assembly shall, with a view to avoiding duplication of assessments, take account of the fact and content of any assessment that the Minister has conducted in respect of the relevant National Planning Statement. I am all for avoiding the...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Mar 2024)

Steven Matthews: I will accept that. I thank the Minister of State.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Mar 2024)

Steven Matthews: That brings us to the end of the grouping. I will put the question on amendment No. 239.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Mar 2024)

Steven Matthews: In accordance with the motion carried by Dáil Éireann on 27 February 2024, it is permissible to proceed before the eight minutes provided for in Dáil Standing Order 108(2) as I have had indication from the Deputy that he will not be present and is unable to appoint a substitute at this point. Because we are all available in attendance, I can now proceed to take the roll call...