Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chair and welcome the Minister. I have a question but also a suggestion for consideration by the Minister and his officials between now and Report Stage. As he knows, section 55 relates to the chief executive's report on adjustment of the housing development strategy. It reads:

The chief executive of a planning authority shall, where he or she considers that there has been a change in the housing market that significantly affects the housing development strategy, give a report ... to the members ...

My query relates to the fact that the section only refers to the housing market, which is generally understood to be the private housing market. However, other factors could give rise to a desire by a chief executive to propose amendments to the strategy, for example, targets could be missed or exceeded, or there could be census results or other information. Is the term "housing market" broad enough to cover those other factors? Is it something the Minister will consider looking at to see whether some other caveat is required in that section? This is so it is not strictly interpreted as just relating to changes in the price of houses, or the availability of private housing stock, etc.