Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

These are the final two amendments in my name. I will be withdrawing amendment No. 11 with the agreement of the House.

Amendment No. 12 states:

In page 8, between lines 17 and 18, to insert the following:

“(2A) The LRD opinion issued by a planning authority under subsection (1) shall be made public when a planning application in respect of the proposed development is made in accordance with section 34.”.

I thank the Minister and his officials for the engagement I have had with them. One issue I had to return to, having thought about it, relates to the independent review body. I am now satisfied, having had a detailed read of the body's report. It noted the highly problematic matter of the deficit in community consultation in respect of SHDs. It stated:

Although pre-application meetings with both the Planning Authority and the Board may take place over many months prior to a SHD application being lodged, the general public – and local residents in particular – have no knowledge about the proposal, and will have only 5 weeks to inform themselves about the application and (if they so wish) prepare a submission to the Board. With larger and more complex SHD applications, this can cause resentment and a perception of being excluded from the process.

We consider that the making the Board's 'Opinion' available to the public following the submission of a SHD planning application, together with a copy of the plans and other details discussed at the tripartite consultation, would alert interested members of the public in relation to a prospective application. However, they would need to be informed about the availability of the Opinion, e.g. by means of the Planning Authority’s weekly list of applications and decisions [or its website or whatever mechanism a planning authority would use, or may use, in future].

The amendment will give effect to the review body's proposal in the cases of the LRDS. While it will do little to address the democratic deficit this legislation retains or to remove it, it will ensure the community has the maximum information at its disposal at the point where it has to get to grips with what are very complex issues for many laypersons, such as the application itself and related issues.

I could go on but I think the Minister has got the gist of what I am seeking. I can give more detail, depending on his response. I hope he will accept the amendment.