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

I thank Deputy Troy for his comments and his question, and indeed his support for the delivery of Government housing policy. First, in relation to An Bord Pleanála, we now have 15 board members in place. It was as low as five last year. That is the highest number of board members that we have ever had. That was permitted in the legislation that we brought forward late last year.

The consolidated planning and development Bill, which is the reform of the planning system that would bring in those statutory timelines, has just concluded pre-legislative scrutiny. We received the formal report from the committee the week before last, and that is being considered now. We will work through that with a view to moving forward to publish the Bill. It will take to the end of this year to get the Bill passed. It is the third biggest piece of legislation ever published in the State.

We already have made changes under the Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Act, which brings planning back to local authorities. There are statutory deadlines and timeframes in it. That process has worked really well.

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