Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

This section relates to the continuation in force of pre-commencement development plans, which are development plans that are in existence before the new Bill commences, section 66(3) allows the Minister, by order, to reduce or extend the length of that pre-commencement development plan. Our concern is that there would be too much power in the hands of the Minister to make decisions about development plans that are democratically decided and how long they should remain in force. Why does he have that discretion or power to make those decisions? What are the reasons? That is the concern.