Seanad debates

Wednesday, 23 November 2016

Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Bill 2016: Committee Stage

 

10:30 am

Photo of Trevor Ó ClochartaighTrevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I was going to follow up on it. The Minister was drawn down a different alley. I wondered about the AILG's reaction to the conversation this morning and the extra staff sanctioned. Apart from the 26,000 outstanding planning permissions, is the blockage not at the other end with the developers who are not moving? How big a development is envisaged? What is the biggest development that could be envisaged under this new planning process? There is a massive need for student accommodation. Recently, NUI Galway was granted planning permission for 400 units close to the campus. I have seen a development plan for NUIG into the future that envisages up to 10,000 units on adjacent sites. There was a little consternation locally about the 400 units in one space. It was not huge consternation, given that people are very aware of the issues of having an extra 400 units with, probably three to four students in each of them. If planning permission were given to such a company to build up to 10,000 units on a site in this area, there could be serious problems and a local authority would need to have an input, given the pressure it would put on local infrastructure. There is traffic chaos as it is in Galway, and it would add to the traffic issues. There would be issues about the types of people and some of the students. Would crèche facilities be provided as part of the overall development? If there were parents, including lone parents, there could be an impact on local schools. I imagine there would be a number of large-scale projects, given that a number of international companies are examining the student accommodation market in Ireland with a view to investing in very large-scale projects. Any large-scale project of this nature would need to have a very full discussion with all the local authority representatives, given that there would be consternation in local communities around it.

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