John Cummins (Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Yes. I am going wider and I appreciate that. However, it is relevant to the work we are doing as a committee on dereliction and vacancy. Yes, under section 57 of the Planning and Development Act, it provides for that with approval of the local authority, obviously, with the architect. At the moment, as Dr. Johnson well knows, there is under-resourcing in that space, which causes lengthy delays. The benefits of going that route versus a planning application that has statutory timelines built into it is not beneficial.

As Dr. Johnson knows, this is the Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage and we are trying to speed up the delivery of units. I am looking at avenues whereby we can ensure the structure, integrity and protection of the a building's heritage while also trying to speed up that delivery. I believe there is an avenue there for oversight by a registered conservation graded architect to do that work. It would, obviously, have to be approved finally by the local authority conservation officer. What is the view on that?