Page Contents
Key Contacts
On 17 July 2024, the Planning and Development Bill 2023 (the Bill) passed Committee Stage in the Seanad.
Debate had taken place from 15 - 17 July but was ‘guillotined’ after 21 hours. At that stage, senators had dealt with 115 of the proposed 660 plus amendments to the Bill. All the remaining government amendments were then voted through.
In June, debate on the Bill was also guillotined during the Report and Final Stages before the Dáil. The Bill had been debated on 11 and 12 June with an order of the Dáil made on 11 June effectively guillotining the Bill at midnight on 12 June, while over 500 proposed amendments had yet to be debated or voted on. All the remaining government amendments were also voted through at that stage.
Next steps
The Bill still has a number of stages to pass before it can be signed into law by the President. The Seanad is now in recess until September 2024. It appears likely that the Report and Final Stages of the Bill before the Seanad will take place on 24 September 2024. As the Bill has been amended in the Seanad it will then have to return to the Dáil for the amendments to be reviewed and agreed to, before being sent to the President for signature. It is expected that this could occur in early Autumn.
Commencement and transitional provisions
After signature by the President, the Bill will likely be commenced in stages. That will mean that for a period of time, some planning matters will be governed by the Bill whilst other aspects will remain governed by the Planning and Development Act 2000 (PDA 2000). The Bill includes “transitional provisions” which will be important in navigating the period of transition between the regime under the PDA 2000 and the new Bill once enacted.
Compliance with the Aarhus Convention
Ireland is a party to the UNECE Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental matters (the Aarhus Convention or the Convention). The Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee (the Compliance Committee) oversees compliance with Convention obligations as a matter of international law. In early June 2024, the Compliance Committee issued its first progress review on Ireland’s implementation of Decision VII/8i (the Decision). The Decision dates from October 2021 and found that Ireland was not compliant with the Convention in respect of three issues. Two of these issues related to access to information on the environment, or AIE, and the third issue related to public participation in decisions to grant extensions to planning permissions.
The Decision found that Ireland was in breach of the Convention by failing to provide for public participation in such decisions under section 42 of the PDA 2000. On foot of this finding, the Committee recommended that Ireland take legislative measures to ensure that permissions could not be extended, absent public participation in the process, save for very minimal periods of extension. Ireland provided its first progress report on the Decision on 2 October 2023, with the Compliance Committee issuing its first progress review to Ireland on 7 June 2024 (the Progress Review).
Ireland confirmed that section 42 of the PDA 2000 was due to be replaced by the Chapter of the Bill dealing with “Alteration, Extension and Revocation of Permission” (Part 4, Chapter 5 of the Bill as initiated). The Compliance Committee considered the relevant sections of the Bill relating to the definition of “material alteration” and a request for an alteration or extension of a permission (sections 133 and 135 of the Bill as initiated). The proposed wording of the Bill provides that where an extension requested is a “material alteration” public participation will be provided for.
The Compliance Committee was of the view, however, that there may be instances where public participation would be appropriate in relation to requests for extensions but such extensions would not come within the definition of “material alteration” under the Bill and so public participation would not be facilitated. The Compliance Committee also referred to the “vague and open-ended” wording of the proposed exceptions to public participation in the Bill which it felt could be applied in practice to exclude public participation for extensions. The Compliance Committee concluded that the proposed measures in the Bill would not address the recommendations it had made in the Decision.
Ireland has until 1 October 2024 to submit its final progress report on the Decision.
Minister Darragh O’Brien has consistently stated that the Bill is fully compliant with the Aarhus Convention. It is understood, however, that the compatibility of a number of further provisions including Part 9, dealing with judicial review - which makes changes to the ability of third parties to take such cases and also to the legal costs regime applying - has also been called into question in the context of the Aarhus Convention.
It will be important for all stakeholders in the planning process to be satisfied that the provisions are indeed Aarhus Convention compliant prior to commencement of the Bill, so to avoid the delays and costs associated with legal challenges.
Our Environmental and Planning team are reviewing the Bill post the recent Stages in the Dáil and Seanad and will also be following the Bill’s further progress before both Houses of the Oireachtas after the summer recess.
For more information on the Bill, please contact Alan Roberts, Partner, Jason Milne, Partner, Alison Fanagan, Consultant, Rachel Kemp, Senior Knowledge Lawyer, or any member of ALG's market leading Environmental & Planning team.
Date published: 26 July 2024
