It has angered the Incredible Hulk and, depending on who you listen to, it is either the most significant reform of Ireland’s planning system in decades or the single worst piece of planning legislation in the history of the State.
Either way, the Dáil passed a major new law last night that helps pave the way for the next general election.
Sure, there is other legislation Coalition Ministers want to get over the line before the starting gun is fired by Taoiseach Simon Harris, but this one is a biggie.
The mammoth Planning and Development Bill – which runs to more than 730 pages – is a key plank of efforts to solve the housing crisis and Government parties will want to be able to tell the electorate they have overhauled the country’s under-pressure planning system as part of a bid to speed up supply.
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Coalition party candidates will also no doubt highlight the Budget 2025 goodies which will need the Finance Bill and Social Welfare Bill to pass.
All eyes are now on these pieces of legislation as any move to fast-track them will be interpreted as a strong sign there will be an early election.
Our Parliamentary Correspondent Marie O’Halloran covered the Dáil debate that led to the passing of the Planning and Development Bill writing how Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien described it as the most significant reform in planning legislation since 2000.
He said it was urgently needed, and would make the planning system more “transparent”. The Minister rejected as “utterly incorrect” persistent Opposition claims that the Bill was rushed and said there had been more than 115 hours of debate at committee.
Sinn Féin housing spokesman Eoin Ó Broin said the Bill “is without doubt the single worst piece of planning legislation in the history of the State and the most controversial and damaging piece of legislation that I have seen in my time in the Oireachtas”.
The most contentious measures include amendments related to proposals for offshore Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) storage which sparked an intervention from Hollywood actor Mark Ruffalo who took to social media to object to this, saying the Green Party “is about to do something terrible to the environment” and that the Bill would fast-track LNG terminals and facilitate fracking.
The Green Party insisted however Ruffalo had given “a very misleading account of what is envisaged”. The party said: “Keeping the lights on in Ireland is not something that Mark Ruffalo needs to worry about, but it is something that the Irish Green Party obviously cares about.”
Jack Horgan-Jones has an explainer on what raised the ire of the actor, and what it means for Ireland’s energy security here.
Deloitte paid €7.6m for advice on Ukrainian refugees
Our lead story today details how the Government has paid out €7.6 million to Deloitte Management Consultants to assist in dealing with people arriving in Ireland from Ukraine since the Russian invasion in 2022.
The fees were paid to Deloitte Management Consultants by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth.
Martin Wall and Keith Duggan report that Minister for Integration Roderic O’Gorman said the contract with Deloitte was initially aimed at assisting with the delivery of his department’s humanitarian response to the war in Ukraine, “at rapid pace and scale, in a resource constrained environment”.
The Minister told the Dáil in an answer to a parliamentary question tabled by Catherine Murphy of the Social Democrats that “Deloitte now continues to assist the Ukraine division [in his department] with continuous process improvements, consolidation, and streamlining of essential operations in addition to providing strategic advisory support”.
Murphy said that while it originally intended the management consultants would act in a role assisting the Department of Integration, “now it appears Deloitte are delivering the humanitarian response to the war in Ukraine”.
Meanwhile, Taoiseach Simon Harris has backed away from policy options being developed by officials that could see Ukrainians not being offered accommodation after they arrive in Ireland.
He said: “No proposals have come to Cabinet but my view, for what it is worth, is that we have made a lot of changes in relation to Ukrainian people coming to Ireland. I think we are at the outer limits of that now. I don’t see a compelling case, being very honest, for more changes.”
Best Reads
Olivia Kelly has an investigation detailing how an Irish event organiser used the names of high-profile figures – including Richard Branson, Denis O’Brien and Barack Obama’s sister Auma – to promote a conference about female genital mutilation in Dublin without their permission or knowledge. It outlines how a “global forum” promising billionaires turned into a small Dublin hotel event with muffins.
Sinn Féin TD Patricia Ryan, a Kildare South deputy, has resigned from the party ahead of constituency convention. Jennifer Bray reports.
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Our Washington Correspondent Keith Duggan reports on the meeting between Simon Harris and US president Joe Biden. He writes that on a day when the White House administration was in emergency mode as Florida braced itself for what Biden declared “the storm of the century” Harris used Wednesday’s meeting to reiterate Ireland’s advocacy for an immediate cessation of violence in Gaza.
Playbook
Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin takes parliamentary questions on his department in the Dáil from 9am.
Minister for Rural and Community Development Heather Humphreys is up next at 10.30am.
Leaders’ Questions is at noon.
Government business at 1.45pm is seeking Dáil approval of the South Coast Designated Maritime Area Plan for offshore renewable energy.
There will be statements to mark Mental Health Week from 3.37pm.
TDs have an opportunity to raise “Topical Issues” at 6.04pm.
Proposed legislation to allow graduates from all universities in the State to vote in Seanad Elections will be before the Upper House at 11.45am.
The Land Development Agency (LDA) is before the Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee from 9.30am. Our tee-up story, including how the PAC will be told the LDA cost rental homes see tenants paying around €1,000 less per month than the market rate, and how the agency has a pipeline of 37 sites to deliver about 17,000 homes can be found here.
Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly is back at the Health Committee. At 1.30pm he will face questions about issues at University Hospital Limerick and at 3.45pm he will be quizzed on the Public Health (Tobacco) (Amendment) Bill 2024 which is aimed at prohibiting the sale of tobacco products to people under 21.
The full Dáil, Seanad and Committee schedules can be found here.
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