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Amendment of section 135 of Principal Act.
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23.— Section 135 of the Principal Act is amended—
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(a) by substituting the following subsections for subsections (1) to (3):
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“(1) The Board or an employee of the Board duly authorised by the Board may assign a person to conduct an oral hearing of an appeal, referral or application on behalf of the Board.
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(2) The person conducting an oral hearing of an appeal, referral or application shall have discretion as to the conduct of the hearing and shall conduct the hearing expeditiously and without undue formality (but subject to any direction given by the Board under subsection (2A)).
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(2A) The Board may give a direction to the person conducting an oral hearing that he or she shall require persons intending to appear at the hearing to submit to him or her, in writing and in advance of the hearing, the points or a summary of the arguments they propose to make at the hearing; where such a direction is given that person shall comply with it (and, accordingly, is enabled to make such a requirement).
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(2B) Subject to the foregoing provisions, the person conducting the oral hearing—
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(a) shall decide the order of appearance of persons at the hearing,
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(b) shall permit any person to appear in person or to be represented by another person,
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(c) may limit the time within which each person may make points or arguments (including arguments in refutation of arguments made by others at the hearing), or question the evidence of others, at the hearing,
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(d) may refuse to allow the making of a point or an argument if—
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(i) the point or a summary of the argument has not been submitted in advance to the person in accordance with a requirement made pursuant to a direction given under subsection (2A),
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(ii) the point or argument is not relevant to the subject matter of the hearing, or
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(iii) it is considered necessary so as to avoid undue repetition of the same point or argument,
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(e) may hear a person other than a person who has made submissions or observations to the Board in relation to the subject matter of the hearing if it is considered appropriate in the interests of justice to allow the person to be heard.
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(3) A person conducting an oral hearing of any appeal, application or referral may require any officer of a planning authority or a local authority to give to him or her any information in relation to the appeal, application or referral which he or she reasonably requires for the purposes of the appeal, application or referral, and it shall be the duty of the officer to comply with the requirement.”,
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and
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(b) by substituting in subsections (4), (5) and (8), “appeal, referral or application” for “appeal or referral” in each place where those words occur.
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