Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will try to address as many questions as I possibly can. I thank all the Senators who spoke for their contributions, along with all the colleagues who spoke on this matter in the Dáil last week. The purpose of this Bill is twofold. The first purpose is to enable the immediate commencement of section 28(2) of the Planning and Development Housing and Residential Act 2016, enacted on 23 December of last year, to allow housing providers to apply for a second extension in the duration of planning permissions. The second purpose is to broaden the qualifying circumstances within which a second extension of duration of planning permission for a substantially commenced development would be permitted.Under the Bill projects that commenced within an extended period are included as opposed to those in the initial planning permission period as was allowed for in the 2016 legislation. That was one of the key issues identified as an amendment. We also took legal advice since we had our debate here last December when we felt we could have moved ahead with this with regulation but the Attorney General strongly advised that it would have needed enabling legislation. That is why we had hoped to deal with it as an amendment in the bigger planning Bill coming through the Dáil but that would have taken too long. It was on the schedule on numerous occasions in April, May and June but it eventually became obvious to all that it would not get through either House in time and we could be caught over the summer with people who had to leave sites. That would be lunacy and would not be appropriate for anybody. It was not necessarily a technical error, it was probably a timing error, coupled with the strong legal advice. It would have added value to what we discussed in December. It was one of the Fianna Fáil Members who raised it during the discussion of the larger planning Bill in the Dáil.

The key issue for me and the Government is that we work with, and support, those that have substantially commenced badly needed housing development. It is key that they are developments that are moving and that developers show an intention of developing a site and not sitting back for five, six or ten years. This is to encourage people who have proved that they intend to build, have started or made significant progress and want to continue. There are people outside sites. Deputy Ó Broin asked for a list and we have asked for the list to be delivered to him. We will try to get that. I am aware of some sites, two of which are social housing. Others are genuinely cases where the people did not realise that their planning permission was not going to qualify. They assumed this Bill had passed. That is why the list will grow when we get full information. As soon as we have that we will give it to Senators. There were builders who thought they could go ahead and start work next week or the week after not realising that their permission expired six, seven or eight months ago. They assumed because we had a debate here that it had been passed. That is the way people think. It did not go through for all the reasons we have discussed. It is important to get that list. It is not just a technicality.

In respect of the progress of Rebuilding Ireland, house building is one of the pillars and to increase the supply of housing we believe we are on track this year, based on the ESRI figures. There is some debate over what is a completed or finished house, with electricity connection and so on. Setting that aside, it is predicted that over 18,500 houses will be completed this year, maybe even more. The target for this year would have been around 18,000 in our plan and to get to 19,000 in 2020 and 2021. Some of these might have been started three or four years ago but we are counting completions. We are ahead with that. All the trends in respect of commencement and planning notices are coming on and they are right because they are up by between 38% and 45%. That would show the trends coming through for the next three or four years of housing completion. Our target is that a minimum of 25,000 houses will be completed per year by 2021. We will be ahead of that target. We recognise that we need to get to 28,000 or 29,000 and we will do for some of those years. Since we published our plan the ESRI predicts that to stay ahead of demand we will need to 34,000 or 35,000 houses per year from 2021. We reckon we will have the system in a position to deliver at least 30,000 houses a year by 2020 or 2021. We will build on that thereafter.

I did not realise that the Acting Chairman would cut me off after three minutes. Other questions were asked and I might get a chance later to answer them.