Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

No. There have been hundreds of submissions to the planning forum. As I have not read them all, I cannot tell members there is no such document. Has anyone specifically asked me to change it? That is not the way we operate - absolutely not. This is about future-proofing our planning legislation and bringing it up to date. The issue could potentially arise and we are trying cover certain things that may happen. It is, therefore, right and appropriate that we do not add a reason or provide a barrier to planning authorities to grant good permissions on the basis that permissions have been granted up to a target, whether those permissions have been activated or not. The Deputy gave a couple of examples in his own area. We all know permissions have been granted that simply will never be activated. What has been happening is that until they lapse, they have been included as part of the housing supply target, in that we have granted permission for X number of houses. We have also seen that with zoned land. That is another reason we are seeking to activate zoned land. There is zoned land across the country that will probably never be built on but if the Deputy talks to his local authority or party councillors, he will find this is counted as part of potential development growth.