I move amendment No. 11: In page 3, between lines 22 and 23, to insert the following: " Amendment of section 31AP of Principal Act 7. Section 31AP of the Principal Act is amended— (a) by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (4): "(4) The Office shall consider the report of the chief executive on the submissions, together with any submission made under section 31(10), and shall, no later than 3 weeks after receipt of that report— (a) recommend to the Minister that he or she issue the direction…

I move amendment No. 12: In page 3, between lines 22 and 23, to insert the following: "Amendment of section 32B of Principal Act 8. Section 32B of the Principal Act is amended by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (5): "(6) A request by a prospective LRD applicant under subsection (1) may include a request that the LRD meeting be treated as a meeting for the purposes of section 32I and such request shall comply with section 32H(2).”.” This amendment, which depends on the acceptance of amendm…

I confirm that, to my knowledge, this is genuinely in response to the Derryadd case of June 2021, when the Attorney General recommended this course of action for wind developments. In terms of custom and practice, under judicial precedent from a number of cases, it is already permitted through the courts in regard to residential development. It was decided, in conjunction with the Office of the Attorney General, not to limit it, thereby including it for all. Regarding residential developments, it could be attenuati…

As I said, there are seven to eight urgent wind farm developments to take place. I also said it was decided not to limit this because it is already available in custom and practice to all planning applications. The specifics have to be given. It is absolutely not true to say that someone can essentially get a planning application through and tell the truth after the fact because the options have to be contained in the application, and public consultation is at the core of that. It is not in the case of a lot of pre…

I amendment No. 13: In page 3, between lines 22 and 23, to insert the following: “Opinion in relation to planning application 9. The Principal Act is amended by the insertion of the following sections after section 32G: “Application for opinion under section 32I 32H. (1) A person who intends to apply for permission under section 34 (referred to in this section and section 32I as a ‘prospective applicant’) may, before making such an application (referred to in this section and section 32I as the ‘proposed applicatio…

The Minister of State, Deputy O'Donovan, must have been hard on Deputy O'Donoghue this morning, was he?

I thank everyone who has contributed to the debate while I was here. As already indicated by my colleague Deputy Darragh O’Brien, the Minister, much is being done by the Government to address housing supply and homelessness. I assure the Deputies in the House of the work done to date. The Government is committed, through Housing for All, to over 200 actions designed to tackle housing issues. Increasing the supply of housing is at the centre of Housing for All. This includes major direct investment in social and aff…

I thank all the Deputies for their contributions. I know Deputies are keenly aware of the scale of the crisis that confronts us. This scheme is the State stepping up to the mark in a voluntary capacity, in the form of a grant scheme, having accepted that there is a moral obligation on Government to put in place practical solutions for impacted homeowners. Government fully accepts that impacted homeowners have been through a very difficult time. The Minister, Deputy O'Brien, addressed that aspect in some detail in t…

I cannot accept the proposed amendment from Senators Higgins and Ruane to delete section 3(b). The amendment was previously proposed and rejected on Committee Stage as it would effectively allow a drafting inconsistency between section 34(12A), which would not reflect the amendments to section 34(12) of the principal Act. Section 3(b), which the Senators propose to delete, is a technical drafting amendment to amend section 34(12A) of the principal Act. The amendments to section 3(b) reflect the related amendments a…

I thank Senator Black for her contribution. In accordance with groupings of amendments proposed in the Seanad, I will address Opposition amendments Nos. 4 and 8 together, as they both seek to amend section 5 of the Planning and Development Act (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2022 by requiring section 37L applications to have a related purpose to the substitute consent application development. Proposed amendment No. 4 concerns the insertion of "for a related purpose" after the word "land" in new paragraph (a) of section 37…

I thought that the Acting Chairperson was going to let me off the hook. I thank Senator Black for these amendments, which all relate to the imposition of a monetary threshold on the scope of substitute consent by seeking to amend section 5 of the Bill. I oppose the amendments, which seek to apply a limit of €5.48 million to the upper commercial value of any future-facing development of the land that is the subject of the application for substitute consent. Such an imposition would unreasonably limit the type and ex…

I thank the Senator for her contribution. This amendment seeks to oppose generally a transitional provision in subsection (5)(d), which seeks to amend section 37L(5) of the principal Act. Subsection (5)(d) comprises a transitional provision that will allow ongoing substitute consent applications that are before the board but have not been determined by it prior to the new provision's coming into operation to make parallel future-facing planning applications under the new amended provisions of section 37L. Such futu…

I thank the Senator for her contribution. Unfortunately, I cannot accept the proposed amendment, as section 177D is being repealed under section 21 of the Bill and the exceptional circumstance criteria under section 177D(2) are being moved wholesale to section 177K as the new subsection (1J), as inserted by section 16 of the Bill. It is important to note that all of the text of the exceptional circumstance criteria previously contained in section 177D(2) will be retained in its new location in section 177K of the p…

I will speak to amendment No. 13, as tabled, which seeks to amend the Bill by deleting the provision that repeals section 177B of the principal Act. I cannot accept the proposed amendment, as one of the key objectives of the Bill is that the current two-stage substitute consent process - which includes various alternate initial steps prior to applying for substitute consent, such as that contained in section 177B, is to be replaced with a single-stage substitute consent application process that is fully in complian…

This amendment seeks to insert a provision that provides for the laying of a report by the Minister before both Houses following the introduction of these proposed legislative amendments. Specifically, amendment No. 14 seeks to impose a ministerial obligation to lay a report before both Houses of the Oireachtas within 18 months of the passing of this Act, outlining data on substitute consent applications received and-or granted, any impacts identified in respect of other planning applications, and the relevant exce…

Amendment No. 15 seeks to insert a provision that provides for the laying of a report by the Minister before both Houses of the Oireachtas following the introduction of these proposed legislative amendments. Specifically, amendment No. 15 seeks to impose ministerial obligations to lay a report before both Houses of the Oireachtas within 18 months of the passing of this Bill outlining the implications or impact of this legislation. While I understand the intention behind the proposed amendment, I am opposing it beca…

Amendment No. 16 seeks to insert a provision that provides for the laying of a report by the Minister before both Houses. Specifically, amendment No. 16 seeks to impose a ministerial obligation to lay a report before both Houses within 18 months of the passing of the Act with the report having previously reviewed the Act, including having sought the views of city and county councillors and the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage beforehand. I understand the thrust of the Senators' a…

I thank the Deputy for her question. I wish to confirm in the first instance to the House that the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, received a request from Remy Farrell SC at 3 p.m. yesterday for an extension to 29 July for a report into the management of conflicts of interest and relevant disclosures at An Bord Pleanála, and the Minister acceded to that request. An organisational review of An Bord Pleanála was undertaken by an independent expert panel and the report published in March 2016. An implementation group compri…

Obviously, the Minister needs to see the report and consider it, but it will be dealt with in a very transparent manner, like all the other actions of the Government. We are prepared to ensure that board appointments will go through the Public Appointments Service, PAS, system, as detailed in the previous review. The Office of the Planning Regulator announced on 27 April that it is conducting a review into the procedures and structures of An Bord Pleanála. It is no secret that we need to ensure the board is functio…

I thank the Deputy for her question. As stated in my opening remarks, the report is due by 29 July. The Minister has no issue with having a debate on the report in the Oireachtas. To be fair, the report has not yet been completed and the Minister has to consider the contents of the report when he receives it by 29 July. We are open to ensuring that An Bord Pleanála is fit-for-purpose and is delivering large-scale investments and decisions fairly by taking in submissions from the public, hearing their side of the st…