Paddy Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have two further questions. The first relates to anomalies in the planning laws. There can be shortcomings or whatever in legislation and regulations that are brought forward. There does not seem to be any great feedback from local authorities to say that there is an anomaly and that when the Department is rectifying the position, it should take a certain course of action. There are two examples that have been put to me by councillors in the past while. Many doctors have their medical practices in houses or commercial properties, but they are now moving them to primary care facilities. This is also the case with physiotherapists and others in the medical field. Those are not covered under the planning regulations. Any place where they go - and if it has to go back into housing - it would seem that they have to apply for planning permission. In my view, that is wrong. There is an anomaly there and it could be overcome by the local authorities.

There is another anomaly in the context of religious services. I have not seen whether local authorities have brought those forward. Not all religious services are provided in churches, for example. They are provided in properties which were commercial properties in some cases. If they are going back into housing, the planning authority is insisting that people apply for planning permission in order to convert the relevant property. That should not be the case.