Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This proposed amendment to the principal Act to include a new section 44A has arisen from recent discussions with the Departments of Justice and Equality and Foreign Affairs and Trade, where it was considered that some provision should be made for the Minister, following the decision by Government, to be able to revoke or modify a granted planning permission where the carrying out of the development of the given permission would likely be harmful to the security or defence of the State, or the State's relations with other states, and where the revocation or modification concerned would be necessary in the public interest.

While it is envisaged that this power would only be invoked in very rare and extreme cases, it is considered that such options should be available to the Government and Minister to take proportionate and justifiable action where the national interests outweigh the personal rights of the individual or entity who has secured permission which is assessed to be a threat or unacceptable risk to the State.

The proposed section provides a number of safeguards, including consultations, where appropriate, with those impacted by the revocation order including the person or entity to whom the permission was granted, the planning authority that granted the permission concerned, or any other person who in the opinion of the Minister is likely to be materially affected by the making of any such order; notification to the person or entity concerned of the order to revoke or amend the planning permission, although such orders may not specify the reason for the revocation if detrimental to national security; and limiting such orders to permissions only granted within the five years prior to the order being made.

Any development carried out in contravention of an order under this section shall be an unauthorised development and there is further provision for an order to require any person carrying out development works to cease such works and restore the property to the condition it was in before the development works commenced. There are also avenues for affected parties to appeal such orders, through the courts, but given the national security nature of the rationale for issuing such an order, the draft provision ensures that all reasonable precautions are taken to prevent the disclosure of information that could harm or undermine the security or defence of the State including the conducting of hearings in camera.

These draft provisions supplement the existing provisions in section 44 of the planning Act empowering planning authorities to revoke or modify planning permissions granted where it is considered expedient and necessary to do so.

There is a further consequential amendment to section 195 of the principal Act to include a reference to the new section 44A in this section, which relates to the payment of compensation in the case of a permission being revoked or modified. Under this section, where the person who has an interest in the land on which the permission was granted has incurred expenditure or entered into a contract to incur expenditure in respect of works which are rendered abortive by the revocation or modification, he or she can seek compensation in respect of reasonable expenditure incurred prior to the order being made.

Overall, these amendments in relation to the revocation or modification of planning permissions for stated reasons in the interests of national security or defence, or the State's relations with other states, are considered to be reasonable and appropriate incorporating necessary checks and balances for any affected parties.