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

It is important legislation because it updates planning law going back not just 23 years but to the 1950s. We need a modern, fit-for-purpose planning system that serves the people and country to deliver the homes and strategic infrastructure we need. Central to that will be and has to be public participation. We have to look at how that is. Some comments have been made that I will not respond to but central to that is that people need to have their say. We need a plan-led approach also. There should be no surprises. We need clearer definitions in development plans as to what will happen on specific sites.

Deputy Ó Broin asked about being able to exempt certain developments from Part 8. I am very much focusing there on the encumbered land, that is, the land local authorities have which has carried legacy debt for a long time and cannot be developed because it is not financially viable. Through approval I got from Cabinet, I will write down and pay that debt on the basis that those local authorities develop those pieces of lands, which are additional to and not included in the housing delivery plans, for the most part, and which are already zoned and owned by local authorities or State agencies. Many of them have been designed out. I want to give them an opportunity to move them forward more quickly, using modern methods of construction in the main. Strict criteria are set down there. Some of these sites must commence in 2023 and I imagine they will but we set the criteria such that they will not be able to use these provisions unless commencement is by, at the latest, 31 December 2024. It is about getting that additionality.

Deputy Ó Broin has made a reasonable request. We are working through that list and have identified the sites. There is approximately €300 million in debt that local authorities have; about €100 million or one third of that land debt relates to land which can be developed and that we and the local authorities have already assessed. It would be a good exercise to, at the appropriate time, make sure the Oireachtas joint committee, on which Deputy O’Donoghue also sits, can be provided with an update. We will give a starting point when we have concluded that work. I do not say the work will be concluded before Christmas about the specific sites but we can share them. That may have to be done. We will work out how it is done. I have no difficulty with that.

That is where I see the expedited planning powers being used. Many chief executives and housing officers will have already started Part 8 processes on other lands they have identified and can continue with them. This is about additionality. We have an idea but have not fully surveyed it out so I will not give a figure to the House of how many additional homes we will deliver through this, but it is my earnest hope that we will do that.

I ceased the two-person quorum. I instructed the board to stop that. It then suspended it. I told it to cease it and am now underpinning it with belts and braces with this legislation. It is about increasing the capacity of the board and providing for an interim chairperson who can effectively take over the role of deputy chairperson. We will bring forward an open, public and transparent process where anyone can apply for roles within the board. We will go through that in more detail later on when we have more time. I again thank Deputies for their contributions.

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