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

I will ask first and the Minister can respond then. This is where there is a refusal or retrospective consent, that is, a retrospective consent application has been submitted and it is refused. The issue here is even where it is refused, after seven years the local authority has no powers whatsoever to introduce any requirements for remedial measures. This is crucial when we think about the regular seven-year statute of limitations. Let us say somebody builds a house. It is unauthorised development. Seven years later somebody puts in a complaint but the house is there. The people broke the rules, knowingly or unknowingly, but the house is there. We could have had ten years of very significant illegal quarrying or peat harvesting activity with very significant environmental impacts and if no remediation action is taken those negative impacts could accelerate and deteriorate. To have such a blanket prohibition on any remedial measures seems very broad. It is not the same as the standard seven-year statute of limitations on planning enforcement.