Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail)
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835. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government if construction work can be carried out in areas in which planning permission was granted that was subject to an environmental impact assessment in circumstances in which it is not in line with the planning permission granted; if the planning authority or An Bord Pleanála can grant permission for retention works that have already commenced; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33042/17]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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Under the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended (the Act), all development, unless specifically exempted under the Act or associated Regulations, requires planning permission.

Any development that is carried out without planning permission or that does not comply with the terms of a planning permission is unauthorised development and may be subject to enforcement action by a planning authority. Responsibility for enforcement action in relation to any breach of the planning code is a matter for individual planning authorities and there are extensive enforcement provisions provided for in Part VIII of the Act.

Where a development has been carried out without first obtaining the necessary planning permission, the developer may apply to their planning authority for retention permission. An application for retention permission is required to be assessed by a planning authority in the same way as any other application, that is, the planning authority is required to consider the proper planning and sustainable development of the area, having regard to the provisions of the development plan, any submissions or observations received, and relevant Ministerial or Government policies, including any guidelines issued by my Department.

However, section 34(12) of the Act specifically provides that applications for retention permission must not be accepted where a planning authority decides that if an application had been made in respect of the development concerned before it commenced, the application would have required an environmental impact assessment or an appropriate assessment, or would have required a determination as to whether an environmental impact assessment or an appropriate assessment was required.

Where the planning authority refuses to consider an application in these circumstances, it is open to the applicant to pursue the matter under the existing procedures for substitute consent under Part XA of the Act, in which case an application must be made to An Bord Pleanála, seeking leave to apply for substitute consent in the first instance.