Rory Hearne (Dublin North-West, Social Democrats)

I am very conscious of time. I want to support this amendment and reiterate the deep concern we have been highlighting around the speculative development that is happening. It is very clear to anyone who studies the real estate and property market that there are actors in it who are not just about building homes. A part of real estate development is accumulating sites and planning permission in order to sell that on. That is a part of the real estate market internationally and it is very problematic because it does not give an indication, as was set out by Deputy Ó Broin, of whether planning permissions actually lead to the delivery and building of homes. In particular, the concern is that it will not tell us whether there will be homes built as a result of planning permission where this extension applies. I back up what Deputy Ó Broin has said and ask the Minister to take this on board and give us detail in this regard in the coming years so we can understand what is going on in our housing system.

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