PJ Murphy (Fine Gael)

The Minister of State is very welcome. I thank him for coming to the Seanad this afternoon. Despite what has just been said by the Opposition, I stand here and compliment the Minister of State on the amendments before us. They will do exactly as intended: enable development. I will go to the bones of the amendment: "The holder of permission for residential development may apply to the relevant authority who granted the permission for the certificate certifying that a proposed modification...of the permission is a permitted modification.". We debated this last week. We spoke about the need for apartments of all sizes. As we said last week, irrespective of what ideal sizes and large sizes we may believe are optimum to live in, if they are not financially feasible to be built, they will not be built and they are not being built.

There is a lack of development in this sector. We have to address that. Irrespective of what we may see as being the ideal apartment to live in, be it facing north, south or both, if they are not being built, they are no good to anybody. We have to be honest. Apartments that are simply not financially viable to build will not be built and are not being built. These amendments are for facilitating the financial viability of a sector that is not currently functioning properly. I compliment the Minister of State on what he is attempting to do. These are progressive amendments and I congratulate him on that.