Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2026: Committee and Remaining Stages
Seanad Éireann — 2026-07-14
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Mark Daly (CC), Administrative Panel

Amendment No. 4 is in the name of Senator McCarthy. The Senator has requested that the reason behind the ruling out of order of amendment No. 4 be read into the record. The amendment by the Senator would oblige the Minister to conduct a report within two years of enactment, detailing how each planning authority shall prepare a report detailing the arrangements for the preparation of a 30-year strategic master plan by planning authorities. While most report-style amendments seeking reviews of the operation of policy containing within a Bill to be enacted, this amendment is not related to reviewing existing policy within the Bill. Instead, the amendment seeks to make provision in law for a wholly new policy matter, that is, the creation of a strategic master plan by each local authority in the State setting out planning matters for their functional areas for a 30-year basis. The amendment specifies matters to be assessed in those plans and specifies that the plan shall be reviewed every ten years. This is a significant policy development which would give rise to a significant work within the Department of housing, but also within the 31 local authority areas. The scope of the matter proposed to be examined in this report could not feasibly be seen as within the existing resources of the Department and could not be covered by the concept of the flexible service. Therefore, unfortunately, I have to rule that out of order. The Senator can speak to the section if he wishes.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-07-14/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:52:15+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-07-14