Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It would sort out some of it. There is a process to pick the sites and, hopefully, there will be a good return of housing on those sites as well.

Matters relating to amendments Nos. 13 and 15 were discussed in the Seanad. There was already much discussion on these extension provisions in the Seanad deliberations which resulted in the insertion of an explicit review mechanism before any extension period could be activated. However, I would add that it was inherent in the provisions in the Bill as originally published that coming to the end of the initial three-year period, the operation of the fast-track procedures would be reviewed. We always had that intention but we have strengthened that.

The three amendments tabled propose that any review of the provisions shall include a four-week public consultation phase, shall require the inclusion of a summary of the public consultation in the report laid by the Minister of the day before both Houses of the Oireachtas, and that before an order can be signed by the Minister extending the provisions beyond the end of 2019, the order must be approved by both Houses of the Oireachtas but not before a further public consultation exercise is conducted, this time on the report provided by the Minister. It is a double whammy and is too long. I made it very clear in the Seanad, and I am conscious that members were not there, so I will say again that through the action plan for housing and the various actions, the Department is constantly reviewing and engaging with stakeholders. I said previously that Departments carry out reviews quite well. This is what we will do and it will be discussed in this committee, the Dáil and the Seanad. It is not a case of trying to hide any success or failure of the scheme. It is an open book so we think it is an unnecessary amendment. Having been through the other action plan process, I can say that the committee has a major role in the scrutiny of all the actions. That will serve the purpose of the action plan for housing quite well. The Department and I do not think we need to table this amendment and I hope the committee understands why.