Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to be here to respond to this Topical Issue matter on behalf of the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Alan Kelly. It gives me an opportunity to acknowledge the initiative shown by Mr. Joseph O'Connell and his family in establishing Ashford Studios, which is currently home to the "Vikings" television show, which is very successful in the United States and around the world. I have been on site there and seen the studio space, which is built to a very high specification. The same applies to Ardmore Studios, whose whole space has been taken over by the "Penny Dreadful" production, which is also very successful.

As Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, I was delighted to have the opportunity to extend section 481 provisions and increase the benefit to 32%, which is one of the best offerings in the world. I also introduced the so-called Tom Cruise clause whereby the fees paid to major actors from outside the European Union are treated as part of the overall budget. During my time in that Ministry I met with Steven Spielberg during a visit he made to Ireland. Mr. Spielberg told me he would love to work in this country provided he had access to a studio space of 60,000 sq. ft. I understand Mr. O'Connell is prepared to provide that space, with some assistance from Government.

Planning authorities in Ireland have been receiving 20,000 to 30,000 planning applications annually in recent years, down from a peak of more than 90,000 in 2006, which cover everything from house extensions to large developments. The consideration of planning applications by planning authorities is resource-intensive and expensive. A planning application must be extensively checked and validated to verify compliance with the regulations, with a view to ensuring, in particular, the right of the public to participate. Each application also requires thorough assessment, in line with the county development plan, and must comply with our obligations under EU environmental directives.

Planning application fees yielded in the order of €7.7 million of revenue in 2012 to local authorities to run a system which employed 1,343 staff, of whom 227 were professional and technical staff.

The annual financial statement for the local government sector states that in 2012, expenditure by local authorities on forward planning was nearly €37.2 million and on development management was just under €88.5 million, bringing total local authority expenditure on planning to €125.7 million.

It can be seen therefore that the amount of income received in fees is only a fraction of the cost of running the planning service. Section 2 of Schedule 9 of the Planning and Development Regulations 2001, as amended, sets out the scale of fees for all planning applications. These include €65 for the provision of a house, and €34 for maintenance, improvement or other alteration of an existing house, including any works for the provision of an extension. In respect of class 4, to which Deputy Doyle referred and which pertains to the provision of other buildings, the fee is €80 for each building or €3.60 for each square metre of gross floor space to be provided, whichever is greater. This is subject to a maximum of €38,000 for any planning application. Class 4 therefore includes the provision of buildings for commercial, retail, industrial and manufacturing purposes and includes studios. The fees of €3.60 for each square metre of gross floor space in respect of studios therefore are the same as for any other commercial development. It also should be noted that the fee payable for applications for permission for strategic infrastructure development made directly to An Bord Pleanála is the economic cost of dealing with these applications. In other words, the fee involved would be considerably higher than for applications to the planning authority. While the planning regulations generally are kept under review in the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, I understand that the Minister, Deputy Kelly, has no plans to reduce the planning fees at this time either generally or in respect of studios.

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