Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I give the Deputy a firm commitment, on my first set of Priority Questions as Minister, in public and in front of colleagues that these provisions will not be extended. We will need to work together on the joint committee on housing, local government and heritage, as it will be constituted, on how we can strengthen resources within our local authorities and planning teams so that we can deliver good plans more quickly.

One of the arguments going back to the passing of this legislation was that there was a hold-up in the planning process in 2016. There is a commitment in the programme for Government to the use-it-or-lose-it clause for planning permissions that relate to any development of over ten homes. As a Government, we will address that and I look forward to working with the Deputy on it because if someone is granted planning permission there should be a reasonable time given for that person to activate it. People should not be allowed to continuously extend planning permission or flip it over. I can give the Deputy a firm commitment that there will be no extension past the expiry date of SHDs.

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