Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senators who contributed in a positive way - Senators Cummins, Moynihan, Malcolm Byrne, Warfield, McDowell, Black and Conway and my good friend and colleague, Senator Casey. I have taken note of the points they raised.

I have always been convinced that the best place for planning is with the local authorities. We must resource them to do that work. Every Senator, including Senator McDowell, referenced local authorities as the best place for planning.

I agree with Senator Conway that SHDs were introduced with the best of intentions. They did not work as intended, though, and when something is not working, one does not continue with it. Instead, one changes it and then brings it back. We will need a transitional phase because we cannot just end the process. If people were in the process and we took them out of it, we would be open to challenge. However, I am bringing an end to new SHD applications for people who have not engaged with the process by 17 December, which is well ahead of what was originally envisaged. This was a commitment in the programme for Government but is also something that I firmly believe should be done.

To answer all Seanadóirí who raised the issue of resources, we must ensure that our local authorities are tooled up to do the job. We also need to ensure that, when the legislation is passed, the strict timelines are adhered to. They must be. That is why they are being set in the legislation.

I take the points raised by Senator Casey and others around further information. While there is additional information, its provision and then its clarification can prolong a planning process, and I do not want to see that happening anymore. I will publish the regulations in this regard approximately one week after the Bill passes, so it will be this year. I will be open to people's suggestions and comments.

I have initiated so much legislation in the Seanad because it offers considered debate and scrutiny. I have accepted amendments in the Seanad and brought them to the Dáil. Along with my team and other officials, I will consider any reasonable amendment that is proposed to this Bill on Committee Stage. We need to work quickly, though. Planning needs to be fit for purpose and this is just one of a number of actions we are taking in that regard. A full planning review, headed by my team and the Attorney General, is being done and Senator Burke will shortly introduce a judicial review reform Bill. A great deal needs to be done with the planning system, but Senator Black is correct that people also need to have their say. With SHDs, a large part of the reason for the increased number of judicial reviews was that the only recourse for people to make a case where they felt their say had not been taken on board was to the courts. The courts are not the right place for planning decisions to be made. We will continue to address this matter.

I agree with Senator Warfield that we need our cities, towns and villages planned well, but there needs to be a streamlined process that takes a plan-led approach. One of the deficiencies of SHDs that I have witnessed is that, in some instances, county development plans, local area plans and master plans have been set aside and gone unconsidered. In a plan-led approach, residents and other citizens also need to be aware of it.

There is an issue with objections from people who have no strategic or selfish interest in certain developments. There is a mini industry - a lay industry - of people who, in my view, take judicial reviews that could be regarded as spurious and that block important homes for people and important strategic developments. This is not something that I am willing to allow continue. As Minister, it will require making tough decisions. If we are serious - the Government is, and I am sure the Seanadóirí are as well - about delivering 300,000 homes between now and 2030, including 90,000 social homes and 54,000 affordable homes at least, with the rest being private homes, we will need a planning system that allows it to happen. If we are to deliver the infrastructure that we require to underpin that housing development - for example, wastewater, fresh water, transport and education infrastructure - then we will need a planning system that is robust. This Bill is one part of that work.

The low percentage of planning permissions that are converted into SHDs has been mentioned, with people possibly sitting on land and enhancing values through planning permissions without increasing densities in various areas. The Government is introducing a zoned land tax. This will be a significant move. It will be an annual tax to be administered by Revenue. It will require some work, as it will be a significant change, but it will make a difference.There is vacant home tax as well, and the land value sharing, which is a Kenny report-style power that has been called for for years and which we will do. All of these things connect to make the planning system better, coupled with what we are doing on housing. They do not happen overnight and housing is not fixed overnight. Some will say there are short, simple solutions to the rental crisis and the increases we see in rents are happening in Ireland alone but they are not. I ask people to cast an eye across continental Europe and our nearest neighbour and look at what is happening post Covid across the world.

There needs to be an element of getting real and local authorities need to deliver on their housing plans. Senator Malcolm Byrne and others, including Senator Conway, mentioned that. With the additional resources and responsibility that local authorities should have and the additional powers we will make sure they have come additional responsibilities to deliver. They are resourced to deliver housing at a scale never done before in the State but they must deliver. That is why the plans being worked through with my Department and local authorities, overseen by me, on the housing delivery targets we will set in place for every local authority across the country, for social, affordable, private homes and homes for sale or rent, will be a clear and transparent process. The funding capital is in place to the end of 2026 on housing. We have put some of the building blocks in place. We are doing it on planning. We have passed the Affordable Housing Act, the Land Development Agency Act and others. They are in place now.

I agree there needs to be transparency around delivery and no local authority has anything to fear on that. Our local councillors will be aware of what the housing plans are and how the local authorities they are elected to are performing versus their peers in the 31 local authorities across the country. We are working well with local government to do that. They will be in place and I expect it to be open, transparent and public as to what we expect to be delivered in Wexford, Wicklow, Clare or one of the four Dublin local authorities. It is incumbent on us to do it.

Many important contributions have been made here, all of which I have noted. I look forward to getting to Committee Stage. I welcome the support across the House for this legislation. It is not the first time we have had unanimity. I have been much criticised, though not in here, for the legislation I bring forward but a sizable percentage of that legislation has been agreed and passed unanimously. We must be doing something right. That is good and it is good to start off Second Stage of this Bill in such a way. I am interested to hear the views of colleagues and look at areas of the Bill we may improve but we need to get it passed expeditiously.

Section 6 is around streamlining judicial review and being able to make sure that a person challenging High Court decisions could leapfrog the Court of Appeal and go directly to the Supreme Court. We have had issues with people taking cases at every stage along the line. That can delay the process.

I have taken the points on board that Senators have mentioned. I thank them for their time and contributions. I look forward to Committee Stage of the Bill.