Address to Seanad Éireann by Members of the European Parliament
Seanad Éireann — 2026-09-23
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Regina Doherty

It is a bit like speed dating, so I do not know whether I am going to get to everybody's questions. I very much acknowledge the thanks and the welcome because it really does feel nice.
On housing, I hope Senator Fitzpatrick can see what we are trying to achieve from a European perspective. I believe we will get there. The frustration some of us feel concerns the speed at which we are getting there. We could be doing things much faster. An example initiative is one the UK Government is currently working on. It is to use artificial intelligence in its planning system. It considers its planning permission system too slow, although it is about five times faster than ours. It is using AI to develop a system where, from beginning to end, with human intervention only at the very end before planning permission is granted, everything will be digitised. One could say this is something we could do here in Ireland if we wanted to but if we had legislation and recommendations from the EU, it would force us to deal with the issue. That is really positive.
Homelessness is something we are still seriously grappling with, not just at home. When one goes to other European countries, one sees how stark it is.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-09-23/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:49+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-23