Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Unfortunately, we oppose amendment No. 35, tabled jointly by Senators Warfield, Boylan, Gavan and Ó Donnghaile, and amendment No. 36, tabled by Senator Higgins. Amendment No. 35 appears to require that an existing development plan, as extended, should be subject to appropriate assessment. In preparing a development plan under the current provisions set out in the 2000 Act, the planning authority is required to carry out an appropriate assessment. This will form the basis for assessing the potential effects of the temporal extension of the plan under the provisions outlined in the Bill. However, it is not necessary to undertake an appropriate assessment in respect of the existing plan under these proposals, rather it is the extension of duration of that plan which must be assessed.Accordingly, the amendment is rejected.

Amendment No. 36 seeks to insert a reference to strategic environmental assessment into subsection (8) of the proposed new section 11D, which relates to an assessment being carried out in accordance with Part XAB of the 2000 Act. As Part XAB relates only to appropriate assessments and not to strategic environmental assessments, this amendment is rejected.

Amendment No. 37, which is a Government amendment, is a technical drafting amendment recommended by the Office of the Attorney General to ensure that where a planning authority is considering the effects of the proposed extension of duration of an existing development plan on the environment and on the integrity of a European site, it must also, as appropriate, consider the proposal "in combination with any previous extension of that plan".