Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will not speak for long. I appreciate Senator Keogan taking the Chair so I could make a small contribution. I welcome the Minister of State to the House. Sinn Féin will support these regulations. We all know that the buildings, schools, community centres, art centres and art galleries have been very conscious of the importance of their role in the response to the pandemic. As the Minister of State said, they have been a cornerstone of Ireland's response to the pandemic. The likes of those arts centres, schools and conference centres should be kept in the loop about future plans and the timeline for the use of their facilities. They serve an important community purpose.

The Planning and Development Act 2000 regulations facilitated the emergency development and change of use of buildings to ensure that any temporary facilities required to respond to the Covid-19 emergency could be developed without the need for planning consent for the temporary period of the emergency. These regulations are linked to the pandemic and will expire, as has been discussed. We will support the regulations and I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House.