Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2025: Committee Stage
Seanad Éireann — 2025-07-15
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PJ Murphy (FG), Agricultural Panel

I will address some of the statements made by my colleague Senator Higgins in her contribution. She stated that there is nothing stopping developers proceeding with existing planning permission for apartments. There is something substantial stopping developers proceeding with existing planning permission. It is financial viability. If a development is not financially viable, how can one proceed? We can talk about our aspirational large apartments all we like, but if they are not financially viable, they will not be built and they are not being built.
We can talk about these aspirations for large apartments, but for people in their 30s who are still living in their parents' box rooms, these smaller size apartments sound absolutely wonderful compared with their current living situations. The amendment being put forward by the Minister of State will facilitate developments with planning permission that are simply not financially viable in their current form. I commend the amendment.

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Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:03+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-07-15