Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I take on board what Senator Ó Clochartaigh has said. They are valid concerns. I do not have a problem with that. I started by saying that this Bill will enable us to deliver more houses but clearly, we do not want houses on sites that are not appropriate, nor do we want buildings that are built without proper planning controls, etc. The reality is, however, that these are sites that have received planning permission. This is a further extension of an extension. There is a due planning process that has already been gone through. That is an important point to make. The Minister has already confirmed that it is open to the planning authorities to restrict the measure to a two year extension of duration. It does not have to be another five year extension. No good planner or local authority wants dodgy buildings built within their local authority area. These are important points to bear in mind.

The Minister has also confirmed, as result of a parliamentary question I sent, that there would be no extensions beyond 2021, and we are now in mid-2017, which is the lifetime of Rebuilding Ireland. The Minister of State has also confirmed this and I hope that I am correct in his interpretation of this. We are talking about a very narrow timeframe, which goes back to the points made by Senator Ó Clochartaigh earlier about the need to quantify the sites involved. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin made this valid point in the Dáil and he also has requested that the sites involved be quantified. I believe that should be addressed. The Minster of State says there may be 50 to 100 but I would suggest there are 75, based on some correspondence I read from the Department recently. Quantifying the sites would help. I cannot imagine that the Minister of State does not know roughly where these sites are. I presume that he does know. It is important that the Minister of State could make that information available soon. Clearly he cannot make it available today, but we could quantify these sites and have a look at them. No planning authority or planner wants dodgy buildings or inappropriate buildings.

I also wish to reiterate again that it is up to the Minister, and his officials are here. There is clearly a planning code set down through the Planning and Development Act 2000. We have planning controls and regulations and all of these still apply. I am reasonably comfortable about it, and one might say who am I to be like this, but I have great interest in the whole planning and development process. Given the tight timeframe of the period, ending as it does in 2021, and given the legislation we have, I believe this is a reasonable measure and which would allow us to be assured that it is covered within guidelines set out in the existing legislation. I would like to hear what the Minister has to say. I reiterate the call for quantifying the sites. As soon as we have the definitive list of these sites the better.