Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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536. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government to provide an update on proposals to review planning laws in relation to permitting the installation of cabin-type accommodation in back gardens to temporarily house family members who cannot source housing elsewhere in view of the current housing crisis; if he will confirm that permissions will be granted solely to accommodate family members with strict criteria to preclude exploitation of the relaxation of rules for profit; if he will indicate when the review will be completed and published; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51108/25]

Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity)
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557. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the plans and timeline to change regulations for small dwellings, such a portacabins, to be built in residential gardens for caring responsibilities and families; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51409/25]

Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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559. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the plans he has to amend the planning regulations in relation to listed buildings to permit solar panels to be erected as exempt development; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51506/25]

Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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596. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government for an update on a matter regarding planning (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52149/25]

John Cummins (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 536, 557, 559 and 596 together.

The Planning and Development Act 2024 (Act of 2024) was enacted in October 2024 and is in the process of being commenced. In the meantime, the provisions of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended (Act of 2000), and associated Planning and Development Regulations 2001 (Regulations of 2001) remain in force until the relevant sections of the Act of 2024 are commenced and the corresponding sections of the Act of 2000 are repealed.

A review of the current Exempted Development Regulations is ongoing and a four-week public consultation period on the matter concluded on 26 August 2025. The consultation on exempted development regulations generated a significant response from the public, with over 900 submissions received via the online consultation portal.

These submissions are currently being reviewed and will inform new draft Exempted Development Regulations, which must then be subject to screening for Environmental Assessment, before being laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas. This will also necessitate engagement with the Joint Oireachtas Committee for Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

New Regulations under the Planning and Development Act 2024 (the Act of 2024) will be signed into law in tandem with the commencement of Part 2 and Part 4 of the Act of 2024 and the updated exempted development provisions will form part of the new Regulations. While the commencement of Part 4 of the Act of 2024 is currently scheduled for the end of 2025, certain elements of the new exempted development provisions, including agricultural effluent storage arising from the need to facilitate compliance with the EU Nitrates Directive, will be progressed for advance inclusion in the current Regulations and will also be carried forward into the new Regulations.