Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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331. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if consideration has been given to granting a ministerial order to extend planning time periods in counties at level three of the Plan for Living with Covid-19; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28201/20]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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In light of the temporary ‘stay at home’ measures introduced earlier this year in response to the Covid-19 emergency, the Government, on 29 March 2020, made an Order under section 251A of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended (the 2000 Act) which resulted in the extension of time for a range of specified or appropriate periods and timelines in the Planning Acts and associated planning regulations until 20 April 2020. Further orders were signed on 16 April 2020 and 9 May 2020, the last of which expired on 23 May 2020. The three Orders had the combined effect of extending the relevant planning periods and timelines by an aggregate of 56 days/8 weeks during the time period in which they had effect. Following the expiry of the final Order made under section 251A of the Act on 23 May 2020 the statutory time periods as set out in the 2000 Act and associated planning and building control legislation resumed.

Further measures were introduced on 22 May 2020 by way of the Planning and Development (Section 38) Regulations 2020, which instructed planning authorities to upload all planning application documents onto their internet websites within 5 working days of receipt, subject to exceptional circumstances. This new statutory requirement facilitates greater use of online access to planning applications by members of the public, maintaining the integrity of the planning system in the context of the current Covid-19 pandemic.

On 15 September 2020, the Government published its latest response to managing Covid-19 - Resilience and Recovery 2020-2021: Plan for living with Covid-19. At present, I do not envisage that any further actions will be required for the planning system in the context of this framework at this time, however I will continue to keep this matter under review.