Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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828. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the reason behind the changes to section 42 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 made in section 28 of the Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Act 2016​. [32743/17]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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829. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the reason the changes to section 42 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 made in section 28 of the Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Act 2016​ have not yet been commenced. [32744/17]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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830. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government if the European Commission was in contact with Ireland regarding the changes to section 42 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 made in section 28 of the Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Act 2016​ in advance of or subsequent to the enactment of the 2016 Act​; and if so, the content of such communications.​ [32745/17]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 828 to 830, inclusive, together.

Section 42 of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, provides that a planning authority may, on application and in certain circumstances, extend once only the duration of an existing planning permission for a maximum period of 5 years, subject, at the authority’s discretion, to compliance with certain conditions.

The Government’s Rebuilding Ireland: Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness committed to give further consideration to amending section 42 of the 2000 Act to provide for a further extension of the duration of current permissions that have already benefitted from one extension of duration for a specified period.  Legislative amendments to give effect to this commitment are provided for in section 28(2) of the Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Act 2016, amending section 42 of the 2000 Act, and, inter alia, are limited to housing developments of 20 units or more which have substantial works carried out.

In addition, section 28(1) of the 2016 Act inserted an amended eligibility condition into section 42 of the 2000 Act relating to environmental impact assessment (EIA) and appropriate assessment (AA).  It provides that any developments that required EIA or AA at the time of the original permission will not qualify for an extension of duration of the permission and the new condition will apply to both developments where substantial work has been completed and developments where work has not commenced.  The purpose of this amended eligibility condition is to avoid an extension of time being granted for developments where, for whatever reason, EIA or AA was required but not carried out at the time of the original permission or where EIA or AA was carried out at that time but is now arguably out of date.

Due to the drafting construction of section 28 of the 2016 Act with these two separate provisions, it has not been possible to specifically commence the second provision above without also commencing the first, which was always intended to be commenced at a later date to allow any potentially impacted developments to prepare for these new legislative requirements.  Accordingly, I am proposing to make certain necessary amendments to section 28(2) of the 2016 Act to address this issue.

It was originally intended to make these amendments in the Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2016 which is progressing through the Oireachtas and is presently at Dáil Report Stage.  However, due to the limited time available in the current session, I have obtained Government approval to introduce these amendments in a short priority Bill – the Planning and Development (Amendment)(No.2) Bill 2017 – with a view to completing its passage through both Houses before the Oireachtas Summer recess.  Following enactment, I will be in a position to commence section 28(2), relating to the potential for a second extension of duration for planning permissions for housing developments of 20 units or more, as a matter of priority.  Subsequently, I will then consider the commencement of section 28(1).

I have not had any engagement with the European Commission on this proposed provision.