Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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174. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the work being carried out to examine planning and other local authority issues related to his Department's grant schemes available for farm sheds and slurry storage on farms; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25661/25]

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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This year Ireland will implement significant changes to its planning laws through the Planning and Development Act 2024, which was signed into law by the President of Ireland on 17 October 2024. In the meantime, all aspects of planning continue to be covered by: revisedacts.lawreform.ie/eli/2000/act/30/revised/en/html, as amended.

The Department of Housing is leading on any changes to planning and structures that may be classified as ‘Exempted Developments'. I met with Minister of State John Cummins, who has responsibility for Local Government and Planning, on 1 April in relation to issues around exempted development for slurry storage. There has been further contact between my Department and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage in relation to potential changes to the Exempted Development regulations.

My Department has submitted a range of proposals for changes to the Exempted Development regulations which, if accepted, will have an impact on farm buildings and slurry storage. The submission includes a request for a specific exemption for slurry storage facilities and for changes to the exemption thresholds for animal housing.

The proposed changes will not change the requirement that a Declaration of Exemption or full planning permission is required to be provided for all structures under the Targeted Agriculture Modernisation Scheme (TAMS 3) as part of the application process.

There is no proposal to exempt all structures under the TAMS Nutrient Storage Scheme. It should be noted that the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage is the Government Department with responsibility for Planning Regulations and will, following enactment of the new planning regulations, introduce a separate exempted development threshold in respect of stand-alone manure storage facilities.