Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senators for contributing to this debate. I will focus on the individual points that have been made.

The points made by Senator Cummins are valid. We all share his frustration at the length of time some of these processes can take for the delivering of new health facilities and so on, but that is outside the scope of what we are doing with this Bill. While this a planning issue and a procedure being brought through the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, it is being done on the advice and instruction of the Department of Health. The list was provided by the Department of Health in consultation with the HSE. We can only deal with what is in that request as part of that, but I take on board the spirit and nature of the points made by Senator Cummins. He talked about the speed of delivery but this is about us supporting the Department of Health and the HSE to make sure they have the strength to continue their role in the emergency response.

On the points raised by Senator Keogan, the fact is this is not necessarily about extra, new, ramped-up capacity. As I said in my opening address, this is about the fact that the regulations brought forward in March 2020 ensured that temporary facilities required to respond to Covid-19 emergency measures could be developed without the need for planning consent for the temporary period of the emergency. Since they were linked to the emergency measures in the public interest Act 2020, all those measures will cease and expire tomorrow night. This means that the planning that underpins our current vaccination and testing centres and the ability of the Department of Health and the HSE to respond to potential future waves of Covid-19, with the need for vaccinations and testing and the associated flexibility, would fall tomorrow night if we did not have these statutory instruments. That is what this process is about.

I thank Senator Chambers for her support and comments regarding these measures. I share her sense of how important they are. It is very important that we do not tie the hands of our public health officials in our response.

Senator Warfield made a very valid point about communication with community groups that have those facilities. It is fair to say that in the test centres and vaccination facilities being used at present that I am familiar with, all the groups involved were very happy to play their part. The two-year time limit on this is fair in making sure that emergency powers are not taken for an overly long period because the health authorities now have an appropriate amount of time to respond to emergencies as they may develop. Who knows where we will be in a few months' time with this pandemic? Hopefully, we are over the worst as regards the emergency response but we know we are under pressure there. Health authorities will now have the time, however, if they know they will require something more permanent beyond this next two-year cycle, to apply through the normal planning process in respect of those requirements, which is very important.

As I mentioned in my opening speech, public community vaccination and testing centres are the cornerstone of the national response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Department of Health and the HSE will continue to operate testing and vaccination centres beyond the end of March, when the regulations providing the current exemption from the planning process expire. As the HSE will continue to require flexibility in the establishment of these centres, sometimes at short notice and in non-medical buildings, replacement regulations are required. The Planning and Development Act 2000 (Exempted Development) (No. 2) Regulations 2022 will enable the HSE to continue operating its current testing and vaccination centres in non-medical buildings and will allow it to source alternative venues in a wide range of buildings, if required. The regulations will enable the HSE to temporarily use these buildings without having to apply for change of use planning permission.

I reiterate that specific conditions or limitations will apply to the proposed exemption. The change of use is limited to a period of up to 12 months and the exemption only applies to change of use for the purposes of preventing and alleviating the risk to public health posed by the spread of specific infectious diseases listed in the Infectious Diseases Regulations 1981, for example, Covid-19. It is proposed that the draft regulations will expire two years following commencement. If further use of these buildings as testing or vaccination centres is anticipated after the two-year period, the normal planning application procedures for change of use should be followed.

I sincerely thank the Senators for their contributions. Given the importance of testing and vaccination centres to our Covid-19 response, I very much hope the regulations will receive the approval of this House. If these draft regulations are approved by a positive resolution of both Houses of the Oireachtas, they will come into force as soon as they are signed. In this regard, it is the intention of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to sign the regulations into law by 31 March.