Vol. 438 No. 4
135 Mr. Currie asked the Minister for the Environment whether he intends to exercise his power under section 22 of the Local Government (Planning and Development) Act, 1963, to require the appropriate planning authorities to vary those aspects of the development plan adopted by Dublin County Council in December 1993, which he has described as haphazard and indicating a frightening degree of irresponsibility; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
136 Mr. Currie asked the Minister for the Environment whether he intends to exercise his powers under section 22 of the Local Government (Planning and Development) Act, 1963, to require the Fingal, South Dublin and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Councils to co-ordinate their development plans with that of Dublin County Council with a view to eliminating those aspects of the County Dublin Development plan, adopted in December 1993, which he has described as haphazard and indicating a frightening degree of irresponsibility; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
137 Mr. Currie asked the Minister for the Environment if, in view of his comments on the manner in which the former Dublin County Council reviewed its development plan, he will bring forward legislative proposals to extend the provisions of sections 44 and 45 of the Local Government Act, 1991, which fix at three-quarters the proportion of members of a planning authority whose support is required for the passing of a material contravention of a development plan or of a resolution under section 4 of the City and County Management (Amendment) Act, 1955, in relation to a planning function, to variations of or amendments to a development plan which would alter existing development objectives for a particular area.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 135, 136 and 137 together.
The County Dublin development plan is under examination in my Department. On the question of using my statutory powers of intervention, I refer to the reply to Question No. 38 of 30 November 1993.
I consider the variation or amendment of a development plan to be a function which should be exercised, in common with most democratic decisions, by simple majority. The special arrangements under sections 44 and 45 of the Local Government Act, 1991, apply in circumstances where a planning authority either wishes to depart, exceptionally in relation to a particular development, from the terms of the development plan, or wishes to direct the manager to grant permission for a particular development for which permission would otherwise be unlikely to be granted.
