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

We discussed this on Committee Stage. I thank the Senators for retabling the amendment. I want the permissions to bring about homes for people. That is what we earnestly want. It means a big change in the process. I say genuinely respectfully that this amendment, as written, would be absolutely unworkable. I envisage the Oireachtas committee having a role in seeking information on what permissions have been granted and activated, but the amendment refers to "within 30 months of the passing of this Act". The legislation will pass with the Senators' support and will be in effect from 17 December this year. There is a lead-in period, which we have discussed, but new applications that have not been in the process will start to come in after 17 December. Even though we are going to have very strict timeframes, we need to get the process up and running.We will have the pre-application stage, the application stage, the decision stage and the potential to go to the board. For any applicant to say that he or she will be in a position to outline what is requested here - and I went through this with Senators Higgins and Black on Committee Stage - just would not be possible as outlined. However, I can see the role of the joint committee and certainly at the local authority that people would be able to request information of others. We will have a fully transparent process. We want to make sure we have a process that is streamlined, that will deliver homes for people and that is not going to just deliver enhanced values on paper permissions. That is what this Government wants to do. That is why this legislation is so important and why, to be fair, the Seanad has enabled its swift passage and why I introduced it in this House - so we could tease through a lot of these issues.

Respectfully, I cannot accept amendment No. 29.