Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The amendment seeks to amend the Bill by deleting section 3(b), which I cannot accept. It would effectively allow a drafting inconsistency in subsection 12A of section 34 of the principal Act, which would not reflect the amendment to section 37(12) of the principal Act. Section 3(b) is actually a technical drafting amendment to amend section 34(12A) of the principal Act. The amendments in paragraph (b) reflect the related amendments at section 34(12), which amendments, in turn, have been introduced by section 3(a) of this Bill. The Senator has not sought to amend the main amendments to section 34(12) introduced by section 3(a) of the Bill.

For information, these amendments to section 3(a) are technical drafting amendments that have reformed section 34(12A) and (12)(b) of the principal Act on the basis that section 34(12)(a) already requires the planning authority to consider both whether a mandatory above-threshold environmental impact assessment, EIA, is required and to make a screening determination in the case of sub-threshold EIA development. Following this, section 34(12)(b), which prohibits planning authorities from considering retention applications for developments that would have required a determination as to whether an EIA is, indeed, to be carried out, that is, where a sub-threshold EIA development is screened in to require an EIA, is being deleted as it is superfluous. A screening of the EIA is a prerequisite for section 34(12A) to apply. I am not in a position to accept the amendment.