Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 1:

In page 5, between lines 20 and 21, to insert the following:

"(2) This Act, other than Part 4 and Schedule 3 at reference numbers 12 to 18, and the Planning and Development Acts 2000 to 2016 may be cited together as the Planning and Development Acts 2000 to 2017 and shall be construed together as one.".

Section 1 contains the standard provisions relating to the Short Title of the Bill and commencement of the Act.

Amendment No. 1 inserts a new subsection (2) in section 1 of the Bill to provide for a standard collective citation, indicating that this Bill, when enacted, and the existing Planning and Development Acts 2000 to 2016 may be read together as one. Section 1(2) of the Bill sets out the standard commencement provisions for the Bill, providing that the Minister may bring into operation the provisions in the Bill when enacted by way of an order or orders on specified days. Amendment No. 2 amends this subsection to provide for the commencement of certain provisions on the passing of the Bill. The relevant provisions in this regard relate primarily to minor technical amendments proposed to the Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Act 2016 which I will propose later. Amendment No. 2 also amends the typographical error making reference to "Part 14" of the Bill, which should be corrected to refer to Part 4 of the Bill.

Regarding Opposition amendment No. 107, the Long Title of this Bill provides that it relates to an Act, inter alia, "to make miscellaneous and consequential amendments to the Planning and Development Act 2000 and to various other Acts in so far as they relate to planning and development". In this regard, section 1 of the Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Act 2016 provides the standard provisions for the Short Title, collective citation, construction and commencement of that Act. In the context of the collective citation, section 1 of that Act provides that the Planning and Development Acts 2000 to 2015 and the Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Act 2016 may be cited together as the Planning and Development Acts 2000 to 2016 and shall be construed together as one. Therefore, the Long Title of the Bill under discussion only provides for amendments to those provisions of the Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Act 2016 that relate to planning and development and not to any of the provisions of the 2016 Act relating to residential tenancies. For this reason, I oppose the amendment by Deputy Ó Broin. Any amendments to the provisions of the 2006 Act relating to residential tenancies are not appropriate to this Bill as they do not relate to planning and development, the principal focus of this Bill, and should instead be made by way of amendment to the Residential Tenancies Acts 2004 to 2016.