Results 1-20 of 2,262 for speaker:John Cummins

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2025: Committee and Remaining Stages (15 Jul 2025)

John Cummins: Government amendments Nos. 1 and 2 amend section 1 to provide that Part 2 comes into operation on the day immediately following the date of the passing of the Bill. Part 2 amends the Act of 2024 and the amendments will not have effect until the relevant sections of the Act of 2024 that they are amending are commenced. By commencing the amendments now, it means that when an order is made...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2025: Committee and Remaining Stages (15 Jul 2025)

John Cummins: I will stick to amendments Nos. 1 and 2. We have had extensive Second Stage debates, both in the Dáil and the Seanad, to make the general points. As I said in my opening remarks, it is a technical amendment to amend the relevant sections of the Act of 2024. Those sections, as amended, will take effect once this is commenced. I will address one point about the translation of the 2024...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2025: Committee and Remaining Stages (15 Jul 2025)

John Cummins: I will address amendments Nos. 3, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 25. I know Members may want to address the amendments to my amendments first perhaps before I respond.

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2025: Committee and Remaining Stages (15 Jul 2025)

John Cummins: Let me address the Senators’ proposed amendments. Senators Higgins and Stephenson have tabled a proposed amendment to amendment No. 13, which seeks to provide that the variation of a development plan on foot of a national planning statement or the fact that the provision of the NPF or the RSES takes precedence over a provision of the development plan continued in force from the Act of...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2025: Committee and Remaining Stages (15 Jul 2025)

John Cummins: Amendment No. 4 seeks to repeal the Office of the Planning Regulator. As everyone knows, the OPR was established in April 2019 on foot of recommendations made by the Mahon tribunal. It made 64 recommendations aimed at significantly enhancing the transparency of planning in Ireland, against a backdrop of significant historical deficiencies in decision-making on local authority development...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2025: Committee and Remaining Stages (15 Jul 2025)

John Cummins: Shortly.

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2025: Committee and Remaining Stages (15 Jul 2025)

John Cummins: Shortly.

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2025: Committee and Remaining Stages (15 Jul 2025)

John Cummins: Very shortly.

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2025: Committee and Remaining Stages (15 Jul 2025)

John Cummins: Yes. As I said, I am opposing the amendment because I believe it will have a negative impact on the planning system. As I said in my initial comments as well, the housing growth requirements will be notified to local authorities very shortly. It is important to put in context the previous housing growth requirements at 30,000 units per annum. The national planning framework adopted by...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2025: Committee and Remaining Stages (15 Jul 2025)

John Cummins: I know this is being welcomed by the Senator, but it is also important to say that the OPR is independent of the Department. It is also important to say there have been changes in the 2024 Act, which was debated in this Chamber. I was sitting on that side of the House last year in respect of the changes to the OPR in terms of the advisory board, which will be in place by the end of this...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2025: Committee and Remaining Stages (15 Jul 2025)

John Cummins: Amendments Nos. 5 to 8, inclusive, as tabled by Senator Keogan, seek to delete sections 21 to 24, inclusive, of the Act of 2024, which relate to the national planning framework, NPF. I cannot accept these amendments as the NPF is provided for in the existing and new planning legislation and sits at the apex of the hierarchy of our statutory spatial development plans, the purpose of which is...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2025: Committee and Remaining Stages (15 Jul 2025)

John Cummins: Amendment No. 9 amends section 30 of the Act of 2024 to clarify the trigger for the first review of an existing regional spatial and economic strategy under the Act of 2024 and is necessary for the commencement of Part 3 of the Act of 2024. Section 31 currently provides that a regional assembly shall commence a review of the RSES not later than six months after the publication of a revised...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2025: Second Stage (10 Jul 2025)

John Cummins: I thank all Senators for their engagement on this Bill. I acknowledge the contributions of Senators Flaherty, Boyhan, Murphy, Andrews, Stephenson, Higgins, Blaney and Rabbitte. We all recognise that it is important that developers use their permissions, whether for housing or energy projects, and important to encourage developers to act quickly on their consents. The Acts of 2000 and...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: School Building Projects (9 Jul 2025)

John Cummins: I am taking this matter on behalf of the Minister for Education and Youth, Deputy Helen McEntee. I thank the Senator for raising the matter of the status of a new school application for Scoil Mhuire, Carrick-on-Shannon, County Leitrim. Scoil Mhuire is a co-educational school under Catholic patronage. As the Senator rightly pointed out, it is the result of an amalgamation in September...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: School Building Projects (9 Jul 2025)

John Cummins: The Department is fully aware of the needs of Scoil Mhuire and the local area and the application for a new school building. I assure the Senator that the application will be reviewed further following the outcome of the NDP allocation process. The Department acknowledges the ongoing discussions concerning a proposed new school building, which the Senator rightly pointed out. It will...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Health Services (9 Jul 2025)

John Cummins: I thank Senator Gallagher for raising this important Commencement matter, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister for Health. Heart failure is a complex condition that affects thousands of people in Ireland. Many people are unaware that they have heart failure, due to the gradual onset of symptoms, which are often mistaken for normal signs of ageing or attributed to other health...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Health Services (9 Jul 2025)

John Cummins: I acknowledge that cardiovascular health is a central pillar of health funding as part of budget 2025, which included more than €9 million in full-year costs to support important cardiovascular health initiatives. The budget commits €4 million in additional full-year costs and 45 new posts to reform how we deliver cardiac services. Since 2020, the chronic disease management...

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2025: Second Stage (8 Jul 2025)

John Cummins: I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." I am pleased to bring the Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2025 before the House today. Members will recall the size of the Planning and Development Bill 2024, which was enacted last year. Many of us worked extensively on that legislation, both at the joint Oireachtas committee and in both Houses. While the implementation of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Priorities of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage (8 Jul 2025)

John Cummins: I will answer the Deputy's question. The Department has undertaken a wide review of exempted developments. All Departments have fed into that process. We have not had updated exempted development regulations for the past 25 years. As such, this is an extensive body of work and it is not only related to modular homes to the rear of a dwelling. It relates to all exempted development...