Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

My reading of the amendment is that it would prevent an applicant who already has permission for the development of more than 100 units from applying to the new fast-track process without first commencing work on the existing planning permission. I think the thrust of the amendment and what it seeks to achieve is laudable, and we will probably support it. Senator O'Donnell made a very good point in the previous debate that we want to build houses, not fuel speculation. There has been a huge amount of speculation over the years. I think that is what this amendment seeks to address, that developers may look at this new process, say to themselves that there is money to be made here, work on the development of a number of planning applications but then try to sell them off to the highest bidder or bring in a builder who will ensure the most profit for the speculator. That is the danger that has been envisaged in the amendment, and that is the loophole we want to make sure is closed before the legislation is passed.

The Minister talked about bouncing a ball earlier. I bounce the ball back to the Minister and ask him whether he agrees with the thrust of what is trying to be achieved in the amendment. We have spoken about the 28,000 applications that have been sat on. Some of them may be in areas that are not viable at the moment, but I imagine quite a lot of them, since they are all in the larger Dublin area, would be viable. How many of those are speculator-led or developer-led applications that were passed and are being sat on for the developer to make a bigger profit envisaged in the future? We are trying to avoid that happening again and avoid a developer-led market again in that scenario. Will the Minister therefore take on board the essence of what the Senators are putting forward in the amendment? How can the Minister try to encompass this provision into the legislation being brought forward?