James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)

I will address amendments Nos. 2 and 9 as tabled. Amendment No. 2 seeks to reduce the standard duration of a permission in the Act of 2024 from five years down to three years, while amendment No. 9 seeks to make the same amendment in respect of the 2000 Act. I cannot accept these amendments. The purpose of having a specified period for a planning permission to act upon is to balance the operational and practical aspects of construction with the need to bring certainty to the development process. The period for permission, which is generally five years, is well-established and in general strikes an appropriate balance between the length of period necessary for construction and the length of period a permission may be acted upon. There is capacity under the existing legislation and the 2024 Act for longer timeframes to be granted in view of matters such as the size and complexity of a particular proposed development. For these reasons, unfortunately, I am not in a position to accept these amendments.

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