Written answers

Wednesday, 19 January 2022

Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government

Housing Policy

Photo of Niall CollinsNiall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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513. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if the queries raised in correspondence (details supplied) will be addressed; the status of the proposal; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1180/22]

Photo of Peter BurkePeter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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The Planning and Development (Amendment) (No.2) Regulations 2018, which came into operation on 8 February 2018, provide for an exemption from the requirement to obtain planning permission in respect of the change of use of certain vacant commercial premises to residential use, including the conversion of vacant areas above ground floor commercial premises to residential use. This measure was aimed at facilitating the productive re-use of qualifying vacant commercial buildings as homes, while also facilitating urban renewal and the bringing on stream of increased housing supply. The original expiry date of the Regulations was 31 December 2021 which was subsequently extended to 25 February 2022 arising from the Covid-related shutdown of the planning system for 8 weeks during the period March to May 2020, which extended all planning timelines by 8 weeks. 

The Regulations limited the number of housing units that could avail of the exemption to 9 having regard to the threshold that then applied to developments in relation to the Part V obligations for social housing, agreement on which is a normal part of the planning permission process for developments of 10 housing units or more. Exempting developments encompassing a higher number of housing units from the requirement to obtain planning permission would not be in line with proper planning and sustainable development.

The Government's recently published New Housing Plan for Ireland - Housing for All commits to reviewing and extending the 2018 regulations to the end of 2025. My Department is presently examining potential areas where the scope of the existing exempted development regulations might possibly be extended to include other forms of vacant commercial premises.

Under section 262(4) of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, legislative proposals in relation to exempted development require the approval of both Houses of the Oireachtas before they can be signed into law. It is intended to submit draft regulations in this regard to the Oireachtas for approval shortly.

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