Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister back to the House. Yet again we are discussing emergency legislation. The Minister has indicated that he intends to come before us to allow for more substantial debate. It would be very useful to know when that will be. As we have seen again and again, so many of the issues of concern in housing policy have been flagged but have not been engaged with at the most opportune moments, for example, in relation to co-living. It is welcome to see that there will be a move towards ending it, but a large number of planning permissions have already been issued in that area. It was an issue that was well flagged in advance. It is similar with strategic housing development where we now see that a very large number of planning permissions which were granted under that legislation when it was very much fast-tracked as an issue through the previous Oireachtas. At that time we warned of the danger of land hoarding and called for a use-it-or-lose-it clause, and now we are seeing that that may eventually come in years later after the exact consequences which were flagged have occurred.

There are several issues relating to planning and development, some of them I, with others, will be introducing on Committee Stage, while others will not be appropriate and I will not be able to bring them forward. They are, however, very important, especially when the Minister indicates that the Bill to amend the Residential Tenancies and Valuation Act 2020 is to be introduced in the Dáil. When can we expect both pieces of legislation to be opened for full and proper review and scrutiny? That is very important.

It should be borne in mind that an unfortunate scenario arose the last time emergency legislation came through the House, where due to the limited time available and the Minister's enthusiasm for giving substantial answers to every question put-----