Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Section 17 amends section 177L of the principal Act to reflect the repeal of section 177D, which relates to applications for leave. Section 177D, which is being repealed by section 21 of the Bill, which I will be opposing, provides for the decision of the board not to grant substitute consent. In its submission to the Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage on the pre-legislative scrutiny of the Bill, the Irish Environmental Network recommended that there would be an amendment to the existing gateways in sections 177B to 177D, inclusive, and a simplification of section 177K to allow that there would be a process of preliminary examination relating to exceptional circumstances with public participation and additional obligations in terms of making all of the relevant materials available to ensure there would be robust and speedy access to the necessary information rather than a straight repeal, as this legislation proposes.It basically comes down to the same crunch, namely, there is a very clear obligation that these measures and substitute consent be only made available in exceptional circumstances. I will bring forward amendments on Report Stage to try to address that and look to what the processes might be in evaluating and considering whether a proposal meets exceptional circumstances, with strong and clear public participation mechanisms and full transparency regarding all relevant materials. Strengthening the existing process would be a better approach than the proposal before us that effectively changes the process and indeed makes it excessively streamlined and developer-led in this regard. I am opposing the section on that basis and will come to the linked issue of section 21 in due course.