Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the publication of the Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2025. I have listened to some of the Opposition speakers about it and wanting a longer time to discuss it but, in essence, this Bill is about extending the existing permissions and we should not want to take longer to do such a thing because if those permissions expire, it will be the same people who are objecting to the amendment Bill who will also condemn the Government. It is important for us to keep a focus on that.

This is a practical and timely piece of legislation focused on one objective, getting homes built. It does two key things. First, it allows the holders of planning permissions for housing developments with less than two years left and not yet commenced to apply for an extension of up to three years. Second, it makes sure that time lost due to judicial reviews does not count against the duration of that said planning permission.

It is a commonsense intervention. In too many cases, we have seen planning permissions run out, not because the builder failed to act but because legal proceedings delayed progress. At the end of 2024, over 40,000 residential units in Dublin sat uncommenced across 265 inactive sites. Approximately 15,000 of those are at real risk of expiry in the next two years. We simply cannot allow viable homes to lapse on a technicality. That is not in the interest of young families, renters or, indeed, local communities who come to all of us across the House crying and giving out that there is not enough housing. For us in this House who want to champion housing and want to see more housing delivered, it is simply unconscionable to say we will let all those planning permissions expire and also at the same time say that there is not enough housing being developed.

My party, Fianna Fáil, has always said its priority is to deliver housing and that means cutting out blockages, unlocking planning permissions and driving on construction. Nowhere is that more evident than in my own area of Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown. Across my county, we are not only meeting housing targets; we are on track to exceed them.

I have spoken previously about Shanganagh Castle in Shankill. Five hundred and ninety-seven homes are now nearly complete. That includes 200 social homes, 306 cost-rental and 91 affordable homes.

These are units that deliver a real mixed-tenure and community-focused development. Let us also take, for instance, Dundrum Central in the Dublin Rathdown constituency where 932 homes are progressing, with the Land Development Agency, under large-scale residential planning. We have made strong progress too on smaller schemes, such as Rockville Green, St. Laurence's Park, Ballyogan Rise and Roebuck Road, and major strategic areas such as the Cherrywood strategic development zone, which are taking shape with more than 1,600 homes already built and another 480 under construction. Cherrywood alone will eventually deliver more than 10,000 homes on the largest single urban development site in Ireland, with more planned along the Luas corridor.

All of this shows what can happen when local authorities and national government work together with clear planning guidelines, strong partnerships, support by local councillors, which is an essential element to all of this, and the right tools to deliver. This Bill gives us one of those tools. It protects thousands of potential homes from expiring unnecessarily. It gives breathing space to commence stalled developments and ensures the full value of existing permissions can be realised. Let us not waste the opportunity. Let us pass this legislation and keep pushing forward because we need these homes and we need them now.

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