Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2026: Second Stage
Dail Éireann — 2026-07-02
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John Cummins (FG), Waterford

I thank all of the Deputies for their engagement in the discussion on this Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill. As I stated at the outset, the commencement and implementation of the Planning and Development Act 2024 is a key priority for this Government.
While I appreciate some of the concerns that have been raised about the length of the debate, we are going to conclude this debate ahead of the time that was allocated to it, and I am speaking to a practically empty Chamber. I suspect that this is not lost on most people who might be looking in.
It is my priority as a Minister of State to ensure that we have the timely commencement of the 2024 Act. That is why we need to ensure that the transitionary provisions that are provided for in this Bill are enacted before the summer recess. As I stated at the outset, I certainly hope that all Members will support those endeavours as we take this Bill through the Houses over the next couple of weeks.
I want to address some of the points that have been raised throughout the debate by Members. One area of concern that was raised by a number of Members relates to workforce plans and ensuring that we have sufficient planning staff within our local authority system. It is important to note that under the ministerial action plan on planning resources, 244 planning staff have been approved over the past number of years, including an additional 45 intern positions and another six members of staff for our regional assemblies, and I will continue to support the increased provision of staff within our local authority system and within our planning system overall. However, what I am trying to do as Minister of State is remove red tape from the planning system by introducing the likes of exemptions, and I know that provisions for modular housing were mentioned by one of the Deputies earlier. It is my understanding that these provisions were laid before the House today and will go to the Oireachtas committee on 14 July 2026, and I will sign those provisions shortly thereafter. I know they have been eagerly awaited by many people.
Removing red tape from the planning system will free up resources within our local authority staff, as well as the provision of the eplanning system, through which 80% of all applications are now being made, which is very welcome.
Section 138(a), on apartment standards, was mentioned and many Members spoke about the viability of apartment development. It is important to understand the difference between the construction of regular housing units and apartments. When a developer goes into the ground to develop an apartment complex, they have no out. They cannot release apartments in phases. They all have to be completed before they are ultimately approved, certified and released to the market. The changes and provisions that are provided for within this Bill ensure that we have a viable apartment sector. It is not about profitability. It is about ensuring that we delivery in terms of the apartment space.
In addition to that, we have made available the likes of the croí cónaithe cities scheme. I note that one of the Deputies who raised viability measures also opposes the provision of the croí cónaithe cities scheme, which is specifically intended to provide apartments for sale to individuals and families across our cities.
Parallel consent were raised by a couple of Deputies. It is, of course, the priority of this Government to ensure that we have parallel consenting permissions across Departments. It requires that technical work across all Departments. It is contained within the accelerating infrastructure task force recommendations and we are working on ensuring that they are in place before the end of the year.
A number of Members raised the judicial review process. I do not propose to reopen the discussion on this matter, which was dealt with in the 2024 Act. Many long debates were had at the Oireachtas joint committee, which I was a member of at the time, and in both the Dáil and the Seanad. Importantly, the provisions in this Bill are about providing for decisions made under the 2000 Act post the commencement of this part of the Bill. It is taking what has already been legislated for under the 2024 Act and applying it to decisions that are going to made post the commencement of the provisions within this Bill.
On the move to ten-year development plans and the transitionary provisions provided for within this Bill, I spent 11 years on Waterford City and County Council and I respect and understand the importance of the role of local government. A local democracy task force implementation plan will be coming to Government shortly following the work done by the task force over a period of a year, and I thank its members for the work they put into that. The provisions of the ten-year development plans are important in ensuring that we have sufficient land zoned across this country and to ensure the transitionary provisions provided for are contained within this Bill. It puts a deadline of the end of next year in terms of the regional spatial and economic strategies. That is a hard deadline to ensure that there is alignment for the first batch of local authorities that will be progressing the reviews of their development plans by July of next year.
In terms of the key town provision, and I am sure this is something Deputies will take up on Committee and Report Stages, it is not about creating a two-tier planning system. It is merely about reflecting the number of towns that have populations above 10,000 and are not currently reflected in the regional spatial and economic strategies. They are key growth towns that have the capacity to provide further housing and opportunities, but certainly not at the expense of rural villages and towns. Members mentioned the rural national planning statement, which I published on Tuesday following Cabinet approval, and I thank people for their support in that respect.
Affordable housing was referenced. We have gone from a standing start a couple of years ago to having over 6,000 cost-rental units in the country.
The provisions relating to the Housing Finance Agency and what is provided for in this Bill will ensure the continuation of the funding provision arrangements that are in place. The purpose of the vacant site and RZLT provisions is to ensure that we do not have a double taxation element, and that in repealing one, we have the RZLT in place.
I agree with Members when they say that timely decisions are important. There are statutory timelines for decision-making within the 2024 Act. This Bill will allow the transitionary provisions to be brought forward in order to bring those statutory timelines into force. I acknowledge the significant work that has been done by An Coimisiún Pleanála in reducing the number of cases on hand from over 3,600 to fewer than 1,300 cases last month. That is significant progress. Of course, we need to continue that, and the statutory timeline provisions are important.
I commend the Bill to the House and look forward to the Committee and Report Stage debates next week.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-07-02/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:52:14+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-07-02