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Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Mar 2024)

Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed)

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Mar 2024)

Kieran O'Donnell: I move amendment No. 285: In page 88, line 3, to delete "Regulator or the National Transport Authority" and substitute "Regulator, the National Transport Authority or any other body, as may be prescribed". A major feature of the Bill is the work that has been undertaken to ensure the mandatory alignment of the various tiers of planning from national, through regional and down to local...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I have a number of general questions on these amendments, which I will follow with some specific questions. One of the issues that concerns me is that notwithstanding the details set out on the draft consultation process, it is not clear who will be consulted. In some of the amendments, whether to section 36 or later sections, certain organisations are listed and then there is a catch-all...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Mar 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: I have similar concerns and questions about who will be consulted. Why, for example, are bodies like the National Parks and Wildlife Service, NPWS, not listed? I have concerns about the level of discretion provided for in this section. Second, there is a significant material change contained in the wording of the amendments. It goes from referring to the submissions being considered by...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: ...the Minister of State spoke of, will there be one set of prescribed bodies with some catch-all caveat the OPR can dip into or will there be separate lists depending on the category of issue at hand? The second version could be one set of regulations that say, "For these types of issues, here are the organisations we definitely want you to consult and if you want to include anybody else...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Mar 2024)

Kieran O'Donnell: ...answered the question at the end. It is the exact same process. At the moment, a development plan goes to public consultation. There are a large number of public submissions. The OPR then engages and, depending on the outcome of its deliberations with the local authority, it may make a draft direction to me as Minister. I will then consider what it has sent. On many occasions, I will...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I wish to be crystal clear. I believe the Minister of State has answered half of my next question. All the documentation is made public, so when the OPR produces its report with its summaries and links to the longer submissions, everything is made available.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: That would mean that if something were subject to litigation and the argument were that the National Transport Authority, for example, had made a submission to the OPR but the OPR, in its summary, had excluded X, Y and Z, the full submission would be available and could be taken into account.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: ...what we were asking the Minister of State to do with the national planning framework. In this regard, we were saying we would like the Department to produce summaries of people's submissions and make them available to the public, as opposed to a general summary document.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Yes, that is my point. My only experience of this is the development plan process. That is very helpful because one can go through the summaries and then dip in and out as an elected member but also as a member of the public.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Yes, and if it were to be extended to the NPF-----

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Mar 2024)

Steven Matthews: Members and I have indicated several times that the committee would like to have some involvement as the regulations are being drafted. Will lists of prescribed bodies for certain aspects of the national planning framework or regional spatial and economic strategies, etc., be set out in the regulations?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Mar 2024)

Kieran O'Donnell: ...to the existing development plan issue. Under section 31, with which I would say Deputy Cian O'Callaghan is familiar, the onus is on the chief executive to prepare a report on submissions received and furnish it to the elected members. Typically, the manager's report will have a summary of the submissions but the submissions are public documents. Ultimately, the Minister is provided...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: It would be helpful if, in his response to my further questions, the Minister of State made it very clear whether the discussion we are having on the regional spatial and economic strategies is equally relevant to the development plans and the area plans.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Okay. In that case, let us tease out the issue of a possible conflict of interest, because I believe that is what Deputy Cian O'Callaghan is getting at and because it is quite important. Let us use a real, live case.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: ...that if the Minister of State lets me finish, he will be clear. Let us take a real, live case, namely the controversy over the out-of-town retail park in Cork county. It is useful to discuss this and I am not making a judgment on either side. I realise it is not a matter of a regional spatial and economic strategy but it highlights a particular issue.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Mar 2024)

Kieran O'Donnell: The answer to the Deputy’s first question is that the OPR is a professional independent body and it operates to the highest standards. That is absolutely true in my interaction with it. Within the legislation, there are two elements. In section 37(12) it states, “a copy of the recommendation and a report sent to the Minister ... and any submissions”. Therefore, that...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Mar 2024)

Kieran O'Donnell: ...in the notice shall be taken into account by the Office of the Planning Regulator in making a recommendation to the Minister as to whether to issue a direction in the terms of the draft direction and in the summary of submissions submitted to the Minister under subsection (12), which will be considered by the Minister in deciding whether to issue a direction under section 38. We are...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Mar 2024)

Kieran O'Donnell: "And" in line 15.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Mar 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: It is inserted after "the draft direction and ..."