Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

We appreciate that and, again, it is something we welcomed yesterday when we saw the report. I have a quick question. If a number of planning applications were to be successful, if An Bord Pleanála were to rule that co-living, because of the previous guidelines, should be accepted in these cases, what measures does the Minister think would be within his powers to move against that? Do we just have to accept that these came and were given permission under previous guidelines and that is just the way it is or is there some kind of regulation he could bring in to monitor and have some kind of oversight over that type of accommodation? It is one thing to rule out everything that will happen from now on but to try to oversee the building standards that currently exist is another. As such, is there some way we can ensure that if something does get permission we are not behind the curve, that we are preparing for that eventuality? Is that something the Minister has thought about, is it something his officials are considering? I ask because we could have a situation where, notwithstanding the Minister's position on this, we have a number of co-living apartments or dwellings on stream in a very short period.

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