Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Lahart for putting the case so strongly, well and passionately.

The Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Act 2016 introduced for a limited time new streamlined arrangements to enable planning applications for strategic housing developments of 100 housing units or more, or student accommodation or shared accommodation of 200 bed spaces or more, to be made directly to An Bord Pleanála for determination. The primary purpose of the SHD arrangements was to speed up the planning decision-making process, thereby providing greater planning certainty for developers in terms of the timelines within which proposals for such developments could be determined, while fully respecting the statutory requirements for public consultation in respect of such proposals.

The SHD arrangements have been successful in delivering on this objective, resulting up to the end of March in the granting of planning permission in respect of 49,291 housing units, comprising 12,991 houses, 27,816 apartments and 8,484 build-to-rent properties, as well as 769 shared accommodation units and 12,173 student bed spaces. In particular, the number of apartments approved annually under the SHD arrangements trebled in the period from 2017 to 2020.

SHDs are, by their nature, developments of at least 100 units. The financing of large-scale developments and the viability of apartment development in urban areas are challenging. This is an area where investment funds can, and do, play a role to enable investment and promote viability. This represents additionality in terms of supply, which would not otherwise have come forward for rent or purchase. Enabling development at scale in urban areas, particularly of apartments, is key to ensuring that we meet the need for housing in the coming years, which we know is likely to be around 33,000 dwellings per year.

However, the Government shares the concerns expressed widely regarding the purchase by investment funds of traditional houses that might otherwise have been sold to ordinary families. The Government has clearly signalled that they should not be competing with first-time buyers and it has committed to proposing as a matter of urgency appropriate solutions through a mix of planning and taxation or related measures to ensure that the pathway to home ownership is protected in low-density suburban developments and enabled in high-density apartment developments.

The Government will take steps to deal with this issue and the relevant Ministers are working on proposals in that regard.

I note the points raised by the Deputy in terms of the impact on his constituency, particularly in Tallaght. There probably are some unforeseen consequences of what were intended to be good provisions. Good legislation can sometimes have unintended consequences.

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