Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I very much welcome the opportunity to speak in today's debate on the Planning and Development Housing and Residential Bill 2016. Everybody from both sides of this house recognises that there is a housing crisis in Ireland. There is a lack of housing stock, either new or second-hand. The current Minister, Deputy Simon Coveney, has made excellent progress to date and he is also the first to admit that a lot more needs to be done. The Bill has a number of main provisions including more fast-tracked planning for certain developments; further extension of existing planning permissions; amendments to Part 8 in respect of local authority-owned land; changes to the requirements for an environmental impact assessment on proposed developments; amendments to the Residential Tenancies Acts 2004-2015; and making provision for the housing finance agency to lend to higher education institutes for the purpose of providing student accommodation. I would like to deal with each of these provisions individually.

I welcome the proposals for fast-track planning for certain developments. As it stands the majority of large housing planning applications are appealed to An Bord Pleanála. It makes sense that in order to speed up the process these planning applications go straight to An Bord Pleanála. Instead of having a two-stage process we can now have a single-stage process. In real terms the Department estimates that the total process for obtaining planning permission can be reduced from 77 weeks to 25 weeks. This will be a major improvement and will be a factor in bringing houses to market more quickly. Some stakeholders have reservations in regard to this provision but if we have a situation whereby the planning process is streamlined it will be to the benefit of all involved.

The Rebuilding Ireland plan committed to extend certain planning permissions that have already benefited from one extension for a further period. The second provision in the Bill tackles this commitment in relation to permissions already granted for 20 or more housing units. Again this provision will facilitate the early delivery of housing by the fact that it will remove the requirement for a developer to re-enter the planning process. Another provision in the Bill which will fast track the delivery of housing units will be the amendments to the Part 8 process for local authority own developments. The new provisions will mean that a local authority own development proposal will take place a maximum of 20 weeks from the time of public consultation. This provision will make the process more efficient with the net effect being housing units delivered more quickly.

On a recent visit to Dundalk the Minister, Deputy Coveney, and I met with the CEO of Louth County Council, Joan Martin and members of her staff. During that meeting Joan Martin outlined the current situation in Louth. At present there are 710 vacant properties in Dundalk and a further 758 vacant properties in Drogheda. An innovative pilot scheme developed by the council under the guidance of Joe McGuinness, director of services, has already seen approval for 24 vacant properties acquired under CPO. Of those CPOs, two have been allocated to tenants, seven are at refurbishment and 15 are at survey and tender stage. I have been calling for this innovative approach for the last eight months and am delighted that it has proven so successful. With nearly 1,500 properties in County Louth vacant, surely these present an opportunity to reduce the housing list with ready made homes in established neighbourhoods.

During our meeting with Louth County Council it was outlined that the council had the potential to deliver over 3,300 housing units under the local infrastructure housing activation fund. These housing units are planned to be delivered in Newtown, Drogheda, the northern environs, Drogheda and the Mount Avenue in Dundalk. At present Louth County Council has 25 schemes at various forms of approval which will deliver almost 550 housing units over the next three to four years.

In addition to the above, Louth County Council has other substantial lands but have substantial loans attached to them. This issue is one that needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency and I note that the Minister is supportive of innovative solutions, possibly a public-private partnership, in order to free up the lands and the corresponding debt attached to them and, at the same time, deliver much needed housing stock.

The next provision on which I would like to comment is the new screening arrangements for certain types of works to see if environment impact assessments need to be carried out. The Bill provides that an application can be made to the planning authority before making a planning application as to whether or not a proposed development is likely to have a significant effect on the environment. The main benefits of this provision is that we will be in a position to fast-track planning applications and as a result deliver much needed housing immediately.

The amendments to the Residential Tenancies Acts as outlined are ones that I welcome with caution. The measures to provide more security to tenants are very welcome. We must prevent a situation where large numbers of tenants in a single development are evicted at the same time, such as happened in Tyrrelstown earlier this year.

I feel we need to protect tenants more. We need to extend the definition of landlords to include receivers and lenders in cases involving the repossession of properties. In my view, tenants should not lose their basic rights just because their landlords are in financial difficulties.

I welcome the provisions in this Bill which will improve the operation of the Residential Tenancies Board. The speeding up of the dispute resolution timeframe, the reduction in the number of members on the tribunal and the restructuring of the administration process will improve the experience of people in the private rented sector, including tenants and landlords.

I am concerned that the amendment in this Bill which proposes to allow an order of possession to be made by the District Court will simply speed up the process of securing the vacation of dwellings. We must protect the people who will be subject to these provisions. I propose that a robust system should be put in place to protect those affected. For example, a protocol could be put in place to allow information to be shared between the Residential Tenancies Board and local authorities to alert local authorities when tenants do not vacate properties because they have not secured alternative accommodation. I note that during the pre-legislative scrutiny phase of this process, the Department acknowledged this scenario and indicated that it would examine all possibilities.

I welcome the proposal to allow the Housing Finance Agency to lend to higher education institutes for the purpose of providing student accommodation. Institutes of technology like Dundalk Institute of Technology will now be able to access low-cost funding for these purposes. One of the knock-on effects of this measure will be to free up valuable housing stocks in towns like Dundalk.

I thank the Minister, Deputy Coveney, for the efforts he has made to date to tackle the housing crisis. While it will not be solved overnight, I firmly believe the actions taken by the Minister to date and his plans for the future will go a long way towards solving the housing crisis, which has come about as a result of the disastrous economic policies pursued by the most recent Fianna Fáil-led Government.

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