John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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370. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to the delays in many local authority areas in arranging pre-planning meetings with developers of residential schemes; if an analysis has been undertaken of local authority performance in this regard or the wider planning process; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52551/19]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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Section 247 of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, provides that any person intending to apply for planning permission for development on land in which he or she has an interest may request a pre-application consultation with the relevant planning authority about the proposed development. This consultation is held subject to the agreement of the planning authority, with the duration of the consultation a matter for each planning authority.

Under section 30 of the Act, I am specifically precluded from exercising any power or control in relation to any particular case with which a planning authority or An Bord Pleanála is or may be concerned, including pre-application consultations.

The specific information identified in relation to pre-planning meetings is not collated or available within my Department's statistics. However, a planning authority keeps a record in writing of any consultations that relate to a proposed development and a copy of this record is kept with the documents to which any planning application in respect of the proposed development relates.