Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Question 234: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government his views on exempting public representatives from paying the fee to make an observation on a planning issue to the council and An Bord Pleanála; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36522/09]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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The fee for making submissions or observations to a planning authority in respect of a planning application is €20. It was introduced in the Planning and Development Act 2000 and the Planning and Development Regulations 2001. Since the enactment of the 2000 Act, planning authorities are statutorily obliged to acknowledge submissions on planning applications and to consider those submissions before making decisions on planning applications. Persons who make submissions are also entitled to be notified of -

· any new information provided;

· the decision of the planning authority;

· an appeal against the decision of the planning authority.

As stated in my Department's Development Management Guidelines, a public representative does not have to pay the fee when making an enquiry with a planning authority as to the position regarding an application or when supporting or objecting to the application in general terms without elaborating on the grounds of the application or on a submission by an observer. However, where a public representative makes a formal submission, i.e. elaborates on the grounds of an application or a submission or raises a substantive new issue, the submission cannot be considered by the planning authority unless it is accompanied by the appropriate fee. I consider this reasonable in view of the requirements on the planning authority as set out above.

The fee for making submissions or observations to An Bord Pleanála in respect of a planning appeal is €50. However, it should be noted that where a person has already made a submission to the planning authority on the application, there is no need for him/her to make a further submission as the Board will consider the entire planning authority file, including all submissions or observations received. There are no proposals to amend these provisions at the present time.