Section 96A reverses the impact of section 96(15) of the Planning and Development Act, 2000. Section 96(15) provided that permissions for residential development granted after 25 August 1999 but before a housing strategy is included in the relevant development plan in accordance with the Act, and to which Part V of the Act would have applied had the housing strategy been incorporated when the application for permission was made, would last until 31 December 2002 or for two years from the date of the grant of permission, whichever was longer. Planning permission would expire for those houses within the development for which the external walls had not been built by the relevant date.