Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I just have one follow up question on that. In a lot of the research and in the meetings we have had on dereliction and vacancy, there was talk about the establishment of what was called a one-stop shop. If someone wanted to go in and change a building's use from commercial, a three or four storey building, into residential, we have taken away the requirement for planning permission for that in certain conditions. One may not need a conservation certificate if it is not a protected structure, but one will need an accessibility cert and a fire cert. It was about the capability of somebody going in with all their paperwork on the one day and getting these things assessed, which I believe happens in Northern Ireland. At the moment, those are all separate processes. We were told it can be onerous and it can put people off doing it.

I suppose what we have to think of is always adhering to high standards but trying to make processes such that it is attractive for people to do it. As Deputy Duffy pointed out, yes, one can go more than three storeys in CLT in this country under the guidance, but it is incredibly difficult and an awkward thing to do, so why would somebody do it? That is the thing we are trying to address. If there is a three or four storey building at the moment, with timber staircases and timber floors in it, can that be refurbished into residential? Can those old timber staircases and old timber floors be used at the moment under Part B?