Written answers
Tuesday, 1 July 2025
Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government
Planning Issues
Eamon Scanlon (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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56. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government how he is changing the planning process to assist people to own their homes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35624/25]
James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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The Planning and Development Act 2024 (Act of 2024) was enacted on 17 October 2024 and introduces a number of key reforms to the planning process that will assist the delivery of housing, including -
- the introduction of mandatory statutory time periods for decisions on all consent processes including, for the first time, for An Coimisiún Pleanála - to give confidence and certainty to both the public and stakeholders involved in the delivery of key infrastructure such as housing,
- 10-year Development Plans that will be more strategic in nature, including an interim review of the plan after 5 years to provide greater certainty that there is sufficient zoned land available to align with the needs of the housing and economic development,
- significant reforms to the planning judicial review processes and the introduction of an ability to suspend the duration of a permission while it is subject to judicial review proceedings, so as not to lose the time available for completing a development,
- measures to deter any misuse of planning processes through spurious planning submissions and appeals and a ban on requesting payment for not opposing development,
In addition, the National Planning Framework (NPF) revision process was approved and published in April 2025. The revised NPF provides the basis for a review and updating of regional strategies and local authority development plans through the zoning of land for residential, employment and other purposes to reflect matters such as updated housing figures, projected jobs growth and renewable energy capacity allocations
Furthermore, on 27 May 2025, Government approved the priority drafting of the Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2025. The Bill has two overall objectives:
- to provide targeted measures to address unactivated planning permissions that may be due to expire shortly. This will be done by enabling holders of permissions for housing developments that have not yet commenced to apply for an extension of duration of up to 3 years, provided that an environmental impact assessment or appropriate assessment is not required for the proposed extension. It will also allow holders of permissions that have been through, or are currently subject to, a judicial review to apply to a local authority for a retrospective suspension of the duration of the permission for the period the judicial review was ongoing,
- to ensure that following the approval of the revised NPF, the updated housing requirements - in excess of 50,000 additional housing units per annum- can be incorporated into the planning system as quickly as possible and to give clarity to the sector that this can be done under the Act of 2000 while the Act of 2024 is being commenced.
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