Further to the commentary in the paragraph below as posted on 22nd December 2022, please note that, following review of the necessary requirements to formalise the Ministerial Direction it is now anticipated that the Members of the Council will formally consider the making of the Variation in accordance with the provisions of Section 13 of the Planning and Development Act, 2000 (As Amended), inclusive of the ratification of the Ministerial Direction and the conclusions of the Strategic Environmental Assessment and Appropriate Assessment procedure respectively, at the Plenary Council meeting on 30th January, 2023.
Procedures in respect of the making of the Variation are now complete. These included: the Planning Authority making the Variation under Sections 18-20 of the Planning and Development Act, 2000 (As Amended), which procedures were completed in July, 2022; and the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage’s Direction under Section 31 of the Act (finalised on 20th December, 2022). The final output of these procedures is that the Variation as adopted by Donegal County Council is amended with immediate effect to incorporate the changes (both textual and mapping) specified in the Minister’s Direction. The finalised document is referred to hereafter as the ‘Consolidated Variation’.
A consolidated Variation document incorporating the Ministerial Direction will be uploaded to this website in the near future.
On Tuesday 20th December 2022, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage issued a Direction to the Council under the provisions of Section 31 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 (as amended) in relation to Variation No. 2. The Direction requires the Planning Authority to take the following steps with regards to the Variation:
The Direction has immediate effect.
The Minister's Direction can be viewed at the following link:
Pursuant to the decision to adopt the variation (which included not accepting recommendations made by the Office of the Planning Regulator (OPR)), the Planning Authority notified the OPR as is required under Sections 13(5)(aa) and 31AM(6)(a) of the Planning and Development Act, 2000 (As Amended).
On Monday 29th August, 2022, the Minister for Local Government and Planning issued a ‘Notice of Intention to Issue a Direction’ to the Council under Section 31 of the Planning and Development Act, 2000 (link to the Notice is below). The contents of the Notice are summarised as follows:
Minister's Documents
Minister's Notice of Intention to Issue Direction
Direction referred to in Minister's Notice
Chief Executive's Report
The Chief Executive prepared a report on the ‘Ministers Notice of Intention to Issue a Direction’ following a period of public consultation on said notice that took place between the 9th September 2022 and the 22nd September 2022 inclusive. The Chief Executives Report was submitted to the Members, the Office of the Planning Regulator and the Minister for Local Government and Planning for their consideration.
Chief Execuitve's Section 31(8) Report on the Minister's Draft Direction
The Variation was ‘made’ (i.e. adopted and therefore incorporated into the County Development Plan) at the Plenary Council meeting of 18th July 2022. The adopted Variation was exactly as per the Proposed Variation published for public consultation during April/May 2022. Links to the relevant documents are available below:
Variation as made at the Plenary Council Meeting of 18th July 2022
Interactive Wind Energy Energy Map 8.2.1 as made at the Plenary Council Meeting of 18th July 2022
Written Submissions received during the public consultation process may be viewed at the link below:
Written Submission/Observations
The Chief Executive's Report on the public consultation as prepared in accordance with Section 13(4) is available at the link below:
