Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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48. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will consider extending the duration of planning permissions due to expire in straightforward cases which do not require an environmental impact assessment due to the delays which have been caused by the Covid-19 pandemic; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22617/21]

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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Under section 42 of the Planning and Development Act 2000, the holder of a planning permission may apply to the planning authority for an extension to the period of permission, prior to the expiration of that permission. On application, the authority shall extend the appropriate period by such additional period not exceeding 5 years as the authority considers requisite to enable the development to which the permission relates to be completed, provided that, the development was commenced before the expiration of the permission, substantial works were carried out and the development will be completed within a reasonable time.

If an extension to planning permission has been previously granted, the only circumstance in which the holder of a planning permission may be granted a second extension of duration is under section 42(1A) of the Act in respect of a development that relates to 20 or more houses subject to the development being completed within 5 years of the originally extended permission or by 31 December 2021 (as extended by Government Orders under Section 251A of the Planning and Development Act 2000 in 2020), whichever first occurs.

On 30 March 2021, the Government published its latest response to managing Covid-19 - Resilience and Recovery 2021: The Path Ahead. In this context, on 10 April 2021 the Minister for Health signed the Health Act 1947 (Section 31A - Temporary Restrictions) (Covid-19) Regulations 2021 enabling the recommencement of residential construction projects as part of the phased easing of the Covid-19 Level 5 restrictions, effective from 12 April 2021.

My Department is presently engaging with the Office of the Attorney General with respect to the potential to bring forward additional temporary legislative amendments to provide for a further extension of duration of previously extended permissions, having regard to the construction delays caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. On advice, these amendments may only benefit extension of duration proposals that screen out for environmental impact assessment or appropriate assessment, and my Department is preparing to bring a legislative scheme to Government in the coming weeks, on this basis.