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

Amendments Nos. 45 to 48 amend section 3 of the 2016 Act to include "shared accommodation" in the definition of strategic housing development, which was originally introduced in the 2016 Act.

This requires consequential amendments to sections 5, 8, and 13 of the 2016 Act to incorporate shared accommodation within the established strategic housing development provisions. Shared accommodation is a form of residential accommodation that is increasingly common in other countries, but is relatively new in Ireland and has been recently enabled by the publication of updated statutory planning guidelines on apartments by the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Eoghan Murphy. Demand for this form of accommodation is expected in larger urban areas, in particular in city centres areas where an increasingly professional and internationally mobile workforce and other smaller households such as single persons seek a high quality managed and serviced rental accommodation solution which, in addition to living accommodation, provides shared facilities and amenities such as catering areas, work stations, communal areas and facilities that residents can work and use either for personal or social purposes.

As a result of the publication of the recently revised apartment guidelines and other actions under Rebuilding Ireland, there is a growing level of interest and activity in developing apartment schemes, including shared accommodation type schemes, especially through the fast-track planning arrangements for strategic housing developments, SHDs, allowing the submission of planning applications directly to An Bord Pleanála. However, as the shared accommodation concept is a relatively new accommodation format in Ireland, which was not envisaged at the time the legislation on the strategic housing developments was being drafted in 2016, the definition of residential developments admissible to the An Bord Pleanála fast-track SHD process needs to be widened. At present, the SHD application can only be made in a special development containing houses, apartments and student accommodation above specified thresholds. It is therefore proposed to add to the definition of strategic housing development in order that the new shared accommodation formats can be considered by the planning process, particularly the new fast-track planning process.