John Cummins (Waterford, Fine Gael)

Amendment No. 4 seeks to repeal the Office of the Planning Regulator. As everyone knows, the OPR was established in April 2019 on foot of recommendations made by the Mahon tribunal. It made 64 recommendations aimed at significantly enhancing the transparency of planning in Ireland, against a backdrop of significant historical deficiencies in decision-making on local authority development plans or other planning functions. The OPR carries out a range of important and significant functions which assist with the effective operation of the planning system as a whole. Therefore, I oppose the amendment as I believe that if it were to be accepted, it would have a negative impact on the planning system in its entirety.

I will address the point on the zoning of land. The Minister, Deputy Browne, and I will write to local authorities very shortly on their housing growth requirements. We have already informed local authorities to commence the variation process in terms of the zoning of land. It is a matter for each local authority as to where it zones particular lands. Certainly from our perspective, the Department will write with the housing growth requirements very shortly and we expect local authorities to implement them as quickly as possible to ensure we have an adequate amount of zoned and serviced land throughout the country, to ensure we have the homes we require for our people throughout the country.