John Cummins (Waterford, Fine Gael)

Perfect. The Department is undertaking a review of the exempted development provisions, which will provide further options for provision of housing. A public consultation process will commence this month and updated regulations will come into force later this year.

The commencement of Part 17 of the Planning and Development Act to establish An Coimisiún Pleanála to replace An Bord Pleanála is imminent. It will build on the work under way to reduce cases on hand, which have fallen from 3,616 in May 2023 to 1,364 in April this year, and introduce the mandatory decision-making timelines I referenced a few moments ago. All these measures are about getting things moving and ensuring we do not lose out on important developments and that the many planning permissions granted are realised and increase housing supply.

Infrastructure is another crucial aspect of enabling housing supply. The provision of critical infrastructure is at the centre of Government's priorities. We are committed to delivering on the key objectives for infrastructure to support delivery of 300,000 houses by the end of 2030 and to boost the country's competitiveness. To this end, we are establishing a housing activation office in the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to identity and address barriers to the delivery of public infrastructure projects needed for housing developments through the alignment of funding and co-operation of infrastructure providers.

The Government has also established an infrastructure division within the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation to lead the process of infrastructure reform. The Government is investing record levels of capital in critical infrastructure, including in water and energy, and will continue to do so under the national development plan for the period 2025 to 2035, which is under review and will be published shortly.

I am keen to listen to contributions this evening and to engage in productive dialogue. I hope contributions - when Opposition Members decide to enter the Chamber - are given in the spirit of increasing housing supply, rather than just for the sake of opposition, which has been the case in many of the debates heretofore on housing.

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