Frank O'Rourke (Kildare North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Bill. I do not intend to go into the issues dealt with by the Minister and my colleague, Deputy Cowen, but I would like to raise a number of issues with regard to the planning process. I hope to get the co-operation of the Minister and the Department to deal with them and that they can be included in or perhaps dealt with in the Bill if the Minister feels they are not adequately dealt with already. The issues I wish to discuss are the extension of existing planning permissions, developing infrastructure in line with the development of zoned houses where permission has been granted and permeability, which exists through departmental guidelines and which is a priority for the NTA regarding access between sites.

With regard to existing planning permissions, my information is that for various reasons we know about, over recent years developments of 100 houses or fewer, which are typical in my constituency and in many other constituencies, are very slow to progress and be completed. Some of these estates might be 25% or 30% finished. As there are perhaps six months left in the planning permission, the developer or builder must look for an extension of time. My feedback from various developers and construction companies is that local authorities ask them to resubmit full detailed designs and layouts on sites which have gone through a full planning process, which could have taken 18 months or two years and included an appeal to a third party, An Bord Pleanála.

In an interview on television yesterday, the Minister was very supportive of trying to assist and promote in a very measured way the development of houses to try to deal with the housing crisis. I am speaking about land already zoned for development which has gone through the rigour of the planning process and obtained planning permission. This is a real problem because where 25 or 30 houses are built but the development will not be completed in the life of the planning permission, people are being asked to resubmit full designs and new layouts as if it were a new application. If this were to happen, and we hope it does not, it could delay the completion of the sites for a further two years, which would cause all sorts of complications and difficulties in the current crisis.

See this speech in context