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Underfunded planning system puts climate action at risk, Government warned

The Climate Change Advisory Council has written to the coalition leaders to highlight specific issues with the planning system.

A PANEL OF climate experts has warned the government that underfunding of the planning system is creating challenges for climate action.

The Climate Change Advisory Council, a panel of experts tasked with advising the government on climate change, has written to the leaders of the three coalition parties to highlight specific issues with the planning system that are “crucial to address” in 2023.

Ireland’s overarching climate targets are to reduce emissions by 51% by 2030 (compared to 2018) and to reach net-zero by 2050 to play its part in thwarting the climate crisis, which has already caused “substantial damages” and “irreversible losses” to the planet.  

The Council’s letter is addressed to Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Tánaiste Micheál Martin and Green Party Leader Eamon Ryan, with a copy also sent to Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien.

“As we approach the mid-point of the first carbon budget, the Climate Change Advisory Council remains concerned that the timelines for delivery of core measures within the Climate Action Plan are not progressing fast enough,” the letter outlines. 

The Council is concerned that it will “be challenging to address the many interdependencies between climate action and planning without addressing historic and structural underfunding of the planning process”.

“Ireland’s planning service is significantly under-resourced in particular at the local authority level.”

The Council called for an urgent increase in staff numbers at local authority planning offices to help effectively deliver national climate policies.  

The amount of planning applications necessary to achieve targets for renewable energy such as offshore wind, as well as essential expansions and upgrading of the electricity grid, represent a “significant challenge” for the planning system, the Council said. It is also concerned that “many of the older fleet of onshore wind farms are due to lose their planning consent before 2030″.

The Council warns in its letter that the compact growth target in the current National Planning Framework is “insufficiently ambitious” to cut emissions in the transport sector. Furthermore, “more effort” is needed to ensure across all counties to ensure that compact growth targets are met.

Additionally, the Council is concerned about the “continuing backlog of cases” awaiting a planning decision.

“It is essential that the planning process performs efficiently for all its users by providing clear and effective forward planning which supports the achievement of our climate goals and specific targets in each sector,” the letter details.

“A refined planning process must ensure coherence and clarity of approach across the different key policy areas including housing supply, climate action, protection of natural and public resources and public safety matters.”

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    Mute Dessie Deratta
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    Apr 5th 2018, 12:52 AM

    I like Stranger Things….better than the average series.

    81
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    Mute Toomasu Sumitsu
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    Apr 5th 2018, 8:27 AM

    @Dessie Deratta: they should use that quote in their next advertising campaign

    28
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    Mute Ted Murray
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    Apr 5th 2018, 12:26 AM

    US TV programmes and Movies have been telling the same stories since the 1920s, and have just changed the time, the names of the characters, and the location, hoping that people think that they’re new ideas.

    61
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    Mute Daniel Wilson
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    Apr 5th 2018, 8:28 AM

    @Ted Murray: you sure it wasn’t the 30s? Some pretty original stuff back in the 20s

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    Mute Robc
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    Apr 5th 2018, 12:30 AM

    First series ok
    Second series sh!te

    50
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    Mute Andy K
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    Apr 5th 2018, 7:20 AM

    @Robc: Second series was a huge disappointment.

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    Mute A Piece of Chalk
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    Apr 4th 2018, 11:37 PM

    Awful programme. Whole thing felt like one big Stephen King ripoff.

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    Mute Stephen Boland
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    Apr 5th 2018, 12:11 AM

    @A Piece of Chalk: explain… what Stephen King novels did it rip off exactly? Is it just because a lot of King novels were adapted into movies (albeit mostly poorly) in the 80s?

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    Mute Ted Murray
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    Apr 5th 2018, 12:20 AM

    @Stephen Boland: ___ Don’t forget the “like watching paint dry” TV “epic” – The Mist that had the plug pulled after one season.

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    Mute Dave O Keeffe
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    Apr 5th 2018, 12:38 AM

    @Ted Murray: the movie was good though.

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    Mute Dave O Keeffe
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    Apr 5th 2018, 12:39 AM

    @A Piece of Chalk: wasn’t a rip off. The creators have a clue owledged a few hat tips to King’s work and he has in turn complimented the show and said he’s happy to have inspired

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    Mute Dessie Deratta
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    Apr 5th 2018, 12:51 AM

    @Dave O Keeffe: What?

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    Mute Andy K
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    Apr 5th 2018, 7:21 AM

    @Dave O Keeffe: Best ending of any movie. Ever. Better than the ending in the book.

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    Mute Dave O Keeffe
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    Apr 5th 2018, 11:08 AM

    @Andy K: the tragic ending? There were a few endings filmed. I’ve definitely seen two.

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    Mute Dave O Keeffe
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    Apr 5th 2018, 11:09 AM

    @Dessie Deratta: sorry *acknowledged. New phone, same old problems

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    Mute Danny Rafferty
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    Apr 5th 2018, 5:52 AM

    Well I thought it lifted more from Lovecraft than King, and enjoyed it all the more.

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    Mute Andy Cahalan
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    Apr 5th 2018, 5:43 AM

    What about the two lads who actually made up the story back in the 80′s? Both parties involved are plagiarists anyway.

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    Mute Seán Ó Briain
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    Apr 5th 2018, 1:01 PM

    One of the best shows of the past 10 years. Love it.

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    Mute Dave McCrea
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    Apr 5th 2018, 2:27 PM

    Are his lawyers idiots? “Defendants have made huge sums of money by producing the series based on Plaintiff’s concepts”. I don’t even have a law degree and I’m coming right back with “a concept is not copyrightable intellectual property, only the expression of it is”, which is so basic a ‘concept’ it was a line in Fatal Attraction. (Bang the gavel sound). NEXT!

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