Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 2:

In page 4, lines 23 and 24, to delete “, or such other percentage as may be prescribed,”.

This amendment relates to the definition of an LRD, which states that the floor space "is not less than 70 per cent, or such other percentage as may be prescribed, of the LRD floor space of the buildings comprising the development", in other words, that the housing or student accommodation elements of a development comprise 70% of the floor space. Our amendment would delete "“, or such other percentage as may be prescribed,” because, as it stands, that phrase means that the 70% can become entirely meaningless. It could be reduced to 60%, 50%, 40%, 30%, 20% or 10%. That could happen, and it would then be possible to have a large-scale development with only a small percentage of residential units classified as an LRD. The purpose of amendment No. 2 is to address that issue.

Amendment No. 4 relates to floor space not being used for residential or student accommodation, and states that "a public consultation shall take place with individuals and community groups which the planning authority shall have due regard to in determinations of the granting of permissions for such floor space”. Again, this is to ensure that even if it is not 70%, this is to ensure that the 30%, for example, of floor space would not simply be a free-for-all regarding what goes there and, instead, that there be real community input, etc.