Pat Casey (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State for coming. I want to talk about part 2 of the statutory instrument. I am a little disappointed because I thought we would have worked through our vacant housing Bill. It took a more holistic approach to converting vacant properties into residential units because it dealt with planning, fire and disability certification, as well as final certification. In its response to the Bill the Department stated:

Separately, there is a concern about the proposal in the Bill in relation to making the sub-division of a dwelling into two or more dwellings exempt from planning permission. This conflicts with the Planning Act which provides that such development is a material change of use requiring consideration by a planning authority through the planning application process, with particular regard to protecting residential amenity and other considerations.

The Minister of State's statutory instrument is proposing allowing up to nine sub-divisions within each dwelling. We all have concerns about the fire and safety regulations. As pointed out and acknowledged in our Bill, there are no technical documents on fire and disability certification when older buildings are being converted. The Minister of State is acknowledging that the technical guidance documents are not and will not be there for a few months. Is the proposed statutory instrument premature until the documents are available?