Amendment No. 27 in the name of Deputy Michael McDowell is out of order as it involves a potential charge on the Revenue.
SECTION 24.
Amendment No. 27 not moved.
I move amendment No. 28:
In page 21, subsection (2)(b)(xi), line 22, after "employment" to insert ", training and education".
Amendment agreed to.
I move amendment No. 29:
In page 21, subsection (3), lines 30 to 32, to delete paragraph (c) and substitute the following:
"(c) make arrangements for consultation with interested persons in relation to the master plan.".
Section 24(3) sets out the procedures with which the council will be required to comply during the process of preparing a draft master plan. Once a draft is completed the requirements of section 24(4) come into play. As the Bill stands, section 24(3) and (4) would require a formal process of submission making to be provided for. As this would constitute an unnecessary duplication of the submission making process, this amendment will remove the first of the two requirements and replace it with a more flexible provision which will require the authority to make arrangements for consultation with interested parties in the course of preparing a draft master plan. The formal submission making procedure will come at the next stage of the process when a draft master plan is being prepared and put on display.
For the sake of clarity, I will repeat what is envisaged here. Under the Bill before us there will be an advertisement for submissions before a draft is drawn up. Once that is done, there will be a further application for submission before the draft would be approved. It would be better if there were consultations in advance of the draft, if the draft was then published and people were allowed subsequently to comment and make submissions on something positive and concrete. That would be a preferable procedure. That is what we have decided and I recommend it to the committee.
Amendment agreed to.
I move amendment No. 30:
In page 22, lines 19 to 25, to delete paragraph (b) and substitute the following:
"(b) Dublin Corporation and An Bord Pleanála shall, in deciding any application, or in determining any application on appeal, as the case may be, for permission under Part IV of the Act of 1963 in respect of development in the Dublin Docklands Area, consider the relevant provisions of the master plan.".
Under section 24(5)(a) of the Bill Dublin Corporation will be required to consider bringing the development plan into line with the relevant provisions of the master plan. As it stands, the wording of section 24(5)(b) presumes that Dublin Corporation will do so even though section 24(5)(a) only requires them to consider doing so. The revised section 24(5)(b), which this amendment will insert, will remove this presumption.
In addition, in order to ensure that the master plan will be considered in the development control process, section 24(5)(b) will require Dublin Corporation to consider the terms of the master plan while deciding on applications for planning permission or appeals in respect of developments in the Dublin Docklands Area. In essence, it is more respectful of the independence and statutory role of Dublin Corporation and removes the notion that when it is required to consider something it will necessarily approve it.
This is something about which the local authority may have contacted its members who are also members of this House. It was concerned that it was being ignored and presumed upon, so I welcome the change.
Amendment agreed to.
Section 24, as amended, agreed to.