Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I support the very well-made points of my colleagues on the committee. I have no issue with emergency measures. In general, I am very supportive of what is being done to provide emergency accommodation for people fleeing war and seeking international protection. I share the concerns about the potential impact of these measures. We are now looking at fairly poor accommodation being provided for people in inappropriate locations, potentially for five years. One of the benefits of a planning process for residential accommodation is that such a process looks at these issues in the round. If you are providing a lot of residential accommodation, it asks what is needed along with that accommodation and whether green open spaces, play facilities and so on are required. With these exemptions, accommodation is now being provided in locations where it otherwise would not get through the planning process. We see accommodation in industrial settings. Whatever about doing this on an emergency or temporary basis, this has the potential to go on for years. The human impacts that will have will create very significant issues for people trying to integrate and get on with their lives.

It is different from buildings in an industrial area being transformed en masseinto residential accommodation, when there is underutilisation in an industrial estate, and all the facilities being put in and so on. We are talking about converting individual units in an industrial setting and it will potentially happen for five years.

I take fire safety seriously. It is not good practice for a State body to be involved in contracting accommodation where there have been breaches and for it then to look for extensions of exempted development status. The regulations are there to protect and save lives. Fire safety regulations came in after more than 40 young people lost their lives in the Stardust. They are there for a reason. Regardless of the exempted development status, I accept that accommodation must comply with fire safety regulations, but it does not give confidence when extending exempted development status.

In general, when looking at extensions of exempted development status, we ask whether the previous exemptions have worked well and whether standards have been complied with. A practice of them being breached or non-compliance with important standards such as fire safety is an alarm bell that extending exempted development in this area is not the right approach, as this sector has shown it is not capable of dealing responsibly with the trust, if you like, that is given by a development being exempted. The Minister of State's explanations draw this out. The approach - that the providers are looking for this - shows that the hands-off approach of lowering standards or bringing in or extending exempted development, because that is what the market is asking for or what the providers want, is the wrong approach. If anything, it speaks to a need for a more hands-on approach from the State in providing and sourcing accommodation. I know there are challenges with that.

Can we see the ongoing review the Minister of State referenced? Has any report of it been made? If so, can it, or they, be shared? Will the Minister of State share the reports of the ongoing review or tell the committee more about it, how it reports and what it has found?