Denis Landy (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. There are many positive proposals in this Bill. I welcome the proposal on the fast-tracking of environmental impact assessments for alleviation works in flood-risk areas. In his speech, I noted the Minister emphasised three times that a planning application for a major housing project can take 24 months. Before I conclude, I will give an example of one local authority which turns that on its head. Will the Minister provide some evidence that it takes 24 months for planning applications to go through?

The Minister specifically mentioned the advice he got from the Attorney General on the Aarhus Convention. Will he clarify this?

I agree with the Minister that there is no point in developers going ahead with developments when they will not sell houses. How does he see developers getting their act together at preplanning stage before they ever approach a local authority? Most problems occur in planning applications because the developer has not done his or her homework before the preplanning stage. The number of times further information is sought in planning applications is spellbinding. It is not the fault of the planner but of the person applying.

I welcome the section regarding Part 8 developments. That makes common sense, provided local councillors have an input into it and can vote on it. The time commitment in that area is necessary because, for some strange reason, officials in local authorities, as it involves their own developments, do not push the issues and let it lag.

I welcome the provision which will protect tenants during the sale of houses. Why was the figure of 20 and upwards selected? I welcome the proposal regarding the Residential Tenancies Board, RTB. I dealt with a specific incident with the RTB which took 11 weeks to resolve. This is an improvement from two years ago when it took two years to resolve disputes. However, it is still a long time if a tenant, who is threatened with being turfed out on the street, has to wait for a decision for 11 weeks.

An Bord Pleanála is already failing to meet the statutory 18-week rule on most of its decisions. In the Dublin area, there is the potential to deliver 46,000 homes on zoned lands with essential services already in place, 33,000 units have permission and another 7,000 are in the planning process. There are many houses in the system. It is trying to get those who have got the planning permissions to move and stop them sitting on sites waiting for the value to go up.

In 2015 in Dublin City Council, permission was granted to 11 applications for developments of over 100 houses out of 4,000 applications. While there was no issue with the granting of permission, the problem was the lack of activation of the planning permissions and the need for developers to provide further information, as I have already pointed out.

Regarding fast-tracking, with respect, the Minister, is trying to solve a problem which does not exist. Instead, he is turning this towards the courts.There will be more judicial reviews because councillors and other citizens will only be able to partake in the planning process at the An Bord Pleanála stage instead of en routeto it. If people do not have a say at local level, they will take the only option open to them, which is a judicial review.

While councillors do not have a direct input into planning decisions, they are entitled to raise any planning application for discussion at area, municipal district and full council levels. That will be denied them now. I want the Minister to think about that.