Mr. Terry Sheridan:

In response to Senator O'Sullivan, yes we can provide an update on the working group. I note her comment that everything seems to be being developed, but as the Chairman has outlined, we have done an awful lot in a short space of time. The Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2016 is before the House but it has been stalled for six months. I had hoped that it would go through the Dáil before Christmas but that does not look like happening now because priority is being given to the Finance Bill 2017.

In view of that potential gap in our workload, I am optimistic that we can bring forward the exempted development regulations as a priority between now and Christmas and bring them before the committee in the normal way. The Minister cannot sign these under the Planning and Development (Amendment) Act 2017 without Oireachtas approval, so we have to come through the committee and a subsequent resolution of both Houses. We will do our best to get that part of the work done between now and Christmas.

Huge priority is being attached to vacant homes as well.

We see them as being a very important means of increasing supply. They are also a lower cost than a new build as well as a more efficient use of resources. As the Chairman has outlined, we have done a great deal with the strategic housing development provisions of the Planning and Development (Housing) Residential Tenancies Act 2016.

We are also bringing forward the land hoarding provision in the Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2016 that is before the Dáil and which we are anxious to progress. We are increasing the vacant site levy, which will be introduced when that Bill goes to the Seanad. A great deal is going on in the background.

We are working between the two divisions, building control and planning on clarification guidance on building control. We are looking at the possibility of amalgamating some of the certificates. Everything is being explored. Originally we had a timeframe of six months from the establishment of the working group. In view of the urgency involved, we are trying to bring that forward as best as we can. I hope the parts dealing with planning will be out of the way between now and Christmas and we can try to progress the building control guidance documents as quickly as possible in the new year.

In response to Deputy Ellis who referred to vacancy figures, the CSO figures are a snapshot in time, May 2016. In view of the demand for housing, many of those properties have been brought back into use since then. I am not sure the figures are as high as they were at that time. The Minister has tackled and progressed the issue of vacant properties. He has already asked the local authorities to develop vacant homes action plans and to allocate and designate staff as empty homes officers to identify vacancy hotspots. We have received quite a number of action plans from local authorities, although the deadline for the submission of the plans is the end of the year. The local authorities are addressing this as well.

We are treating our work as urgent, but everything does take time. We have to tease out issues and we want to ensure that there are no unintended consequences from bringing forward proposals. My colleague, Ms Neary, will add to my comments.