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

I will address amendment No. 12, as tabled by Senator Higgins, which seeks to insert a new section 21 into the Bill relating to the thresholds of substitute consent. The amendment seeks to insert a provision whereby the provisions of this Bill, including the right to apply for substitute consent, shall not be applicable in respect of projects that have an estimated commercial value of greater than €5.48 million.

I am opposing the proposed amendment No. 12. The amendments that have been proposed by the Government by way of this Bill are intended for exceptional circumstances. I note that the Senator did not refer in her contribution to the fact that the developer has to prove its bona fides in this case, as has been outlined clearly in section 16(8)(g), irrespective of the commercial value of the site. In the rare cases where a substitute consent is being sought, it is done so after the bona fide mistake has been realised by the developer, which is often following a court judgment has revised a common legal understanding of whether a development or class of developments were in breach of the law or not, where a developer thereafter seeks formally to correct that mistake and where the developer is also exposed to the significant negative risk of mandatory enforcement and remediation of the site if substitute consent was to be refused. It is not the intention of this Bill to preclude any site from being brought back into the planning system by way of substitute consent on commercial grounds. Therefore, I am opposing the proposed amendment No. 12.