Results 101-120 of 1,048,484 for in 'Dáil debates' OR in 'Committee meetings' (speaker:Damien English OR speaker:Eoin Ó Broin OR speaker:Dara Calleary OR speaker:Patrick O'Donovan OR speaker:Martin Heydon OR speaker:Richard Bruton OR speaker:Peadar Tóibín)

Agriculture Appeals (Amendment) Bill 2024: Second Stage (11 Jul 2024)

Patrick Costello: This legislation has received a broad welcome from Deputies and the farming organisations. However, there is a broader issue here in the context of how we approach rights and obligations and the enforcement of same. To be blunt, we have created a Byzantine mess of quasi-judicial bodies. There is ultimately a risk of constitutional weakness, vulnerability and challenge to many of these and...

Agriculture Appeals (Amendment) Bill 2024: Second Stage (11 Jul 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: I welcome the Bill. In everything we do in this area, our concern is that there be fairness for farmers. It is also about bringing the enjoyment back into farming. The Minister knows all about the various schemes, the associated bureaucracy and everything that has happened over the years. I accept completely that there must be proper governance of everything that is done. However, the...

Agriculture Appeals (Amendment) Bill 2024: Second Stage (11 Jul 2024)

Claire Kerrane: I welcome the legislation and commend the Minister for making it happen. I know this was a commitment that was made, not least in the programme for Government. It is good to see the legislation before the House this afternoon. The Minister mentioned the pre-legislative scrutiny undertaken by the committee on agriculture and the report that was published subsequently. I am very glad that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Consultation on the Draft National Planning Framework: Discussion (11 Jul 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I thank Mr. Hogan and his team for the presentation and their work to date. I agree with the Chair, although this is not in any way a criticism of Mr. Hogan or his team, given we understand it was a decision of the Government, that we will definitely need a meeting in September. Moreover, although this is also an issue for the Minister rather than for the officials, the 12 September...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Consultation on the Draft National Planning Framework: Discussion (11 Jul 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I get that, but this is a draft we will respond to and, obviously, while it might change, the Department has stated a number that is different from that of the ESRI or the Housing Commission. I am just interested to know how that number was derived.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Consultation on the Draft National Planning Framework: Discussion (11 Jul 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I am honestly not being in any way belligerent, but the question is a simple one. The Department has stated a figure in the document and there is a reason that figure was chosen. According to the ESRI's report, structural demand will comprise on average 44,000 and the Housing Commission has calculated 60,000, adding 16,000 to the former figure Why is 50,000 the starting position?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Consultation on the Draft National Planning Framework: Discussion (11 Jul 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: That is for structural demand.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Consultation on the Draft National Planning Framework: Discussion (11 Jul 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: However, again, that does not answer the question as to why the figure is 50,000, because that does not make a reasonable allowance for the pent-up demand. We have one assessment of pent-up demand. It would have been much better if the ESRI had also been asked to carry out an assessment but, obviously, that was not permitted by the Government. The Housing Commission's report is not only...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Consultation on the Draft National Planning Framework: Discussion (11 Jul 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I will finish on that point, because I do not agree. I do not believe it is reasonable and I do not believe that Mr. Hogan privately thinks it is reasonable either, but that is just my own view. The Housing Commission is telling us that over the same period, we need an average of at least 60,000 homes. If 50,000 was reasonable over the Department's trajectory, we would be under-delivering...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Consultation on the Draft National Planning Framework: Discussion (11 Jul 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I fully accept that it is a document out to 2040 - that is in its title - but some of the revisions the Department has made to it are based on the assessment of what has worked or what has not worked or what needs to be tweaked. Therefore, in order for us to fully understand the changes the Department has made, understanding its own assessment of what is working, not working and partially...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Consultation on the Draft National Planning Framework: Discussion (11 Jul 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Perfect. I thank Ms Walsh. That would be very helpful.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Consultation on the Draft National Planning Framework: Discussion (11 Jul 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Did that not only arrive today?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Consultation on the Draft National Planning Framework: Discussion (11 Jul 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I am literally looking through the track-changes version of the document and just to say, that it is absolutely brilliant. That is just what we need. Is that document called the amendments' document?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Consultation on the Draft National Planning Framework: Discussion (11 Jul 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: On page 58 of the amendments' document I want to pick up on Deputy Leddin's line of questioning so that I understand it. Table 4.1 on page 58 contains the amended population-growth targets by region. Two things jump out when I look at the tracked changes. While the range for population growth in Dublin city and the suburbs remains as it was at 20% to 25%, in Cork, Limerick, Galway and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Consultation on the Draft National Planning Framework: Discussion (11 Jul 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: That means that the actual end point at 2040 has not changed. It is just reflective of the distribution of population growth to date, from 2018 to 2023 or 2024. Is that correct?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Consultation on the Draft National Planning Framework: Discussion (11 Jul 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I have a supplementary question. In the last column on the right-hand side, all the minimum target population growth numbers are higher than they were in the previous document. Is that just reflective of the general overall increase in population growth? What explains that set of track changes?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Consultation on the Draft National Planning Framework: Discussion (11 Jul 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: That is made clear. I will move to page 65 of the Department's amendment document, where a very interesting change is outlined. It will be remembered that what was national policy objective 10a was the creation of a national regeneration and development agency. In the language of the original NPF, NPO 10a clearly meant an active land management agency. In fact, at that stage, Mr. Hogan...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Consultation on the Draft National Planning Framework: Discussion (11 Jul 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I will challenge Mr. Hogan in one sense. I say this in good faith. NPO 10a referenced co-ordinating and securing the best use of public lands. It was not limited to housing because it was wider. That is not in NPO 21. Mr. Hogan is correct that the LDA, as per the LDA Act, has two functions. One is active land management and the other is residential development. The wording of NPO 21,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Consultation on the Draft National Planning Framework: Discussion (11 Jul 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: Those elements are activation measures. Active land management is more than that. There can be lots of individual activation measures but the idea of NPO 10a was to state that we needed a State entity that would be involved in active land management. I will raise two very quick matters that probably will not get answers. On pages 102 and 103 and the language around homelessness, we...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Consultation on the Draft National Planning Framework: Discussion (11 Jul 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I will come back in the next round. I will see what else I can find in between times.