Mr. Terry Sheridan:

I will respond on some aspects of the questions and leave other aspects to my colleague, Mr. Hogan. As I mentioned in my opening statement, there is a clear commitment in the programme for Government to terminate the SHD arrangements with effect from the end of December 2021. The planning system in respect of large housing developments will, at that stage, revert to the arrangements that applied prior to the introduction of the SHD system. This means that initial applications will be made to the local authority and that appeals will be determined by An Bord Pleanála. This was the case with regard to the majority of housing developments proposed prior to 2017. Senator Fitzpatrick referred to the number of permissions that have not been activated and the number of units that remain to be commenced and asked what will happen to them. The fact of the matter is that developers will have that permission to develop those sites for a period of time. Those permissions will remain in place under the post-2021 arrangements. We are trying to ensure the positive elements of the SHD arrangements, such as the timelines and greater certainty for developers, can be retained in an appropriate manner.

I hope they will be initially considered by the planning authorities, hopefully within a specified timeframe, rather than the previous arrangements that applied. Similarly, in the case of An Bord Pleanála, that it would consider appeals within a specified timeframe, because the practice has now been established that applications for large-scale housing developments can be considered in that timeframe. That is what we are proposing to do, namely, to try to bring forward the best elements of SHD, such as the detailed pre-application consultations that have applied, which have brought many benefits in terms of design and higher quality developments.

I will ask my colleague, Mr. Paul Hogan-----