I appreciate that we debated this at some length. I want the involvement of elected councillors. I reiterate that what the Government is doing - in fairness, with the support of the Opposition heretofore - is restoring planning to the local authorities. The primacy of the development plan is very important. I have read into the record the two sections whereby councillors will be directly involved. Every application lodged under this process will not just be copied to every councillor, but every councillor will be n…

I take this amendment in the spirit in which it has been tabled. We discussed this issue in great detail on Committee Stage. In terms of using it or losing it, I want permissions that have been granted to be activated. We need to do that. It is something that can be done through the introduction of the zoned land tax, land value sharing and other measures that we are bringing forward. For large-scale developments, I genuinely think setting a 12-month timeframe would be really problematic. There was a general unders…

We are not supporting the amendment. We discussed this matter at length previously.

We have discussed this point at some length. I am opposing this amendment because it effectively adds an additional level of consultation to the LRD process and what we are doing, effectively, in this legislation is to allow for proper consultation. Bringing planning back to local authorities means that residents or any interested groups will be able to make their observations at the first stage and will not have to wait until an application goes to An Bord Pleanála. The current situation partially accounted for wh…

We have discussed this aspect already. I welcome the Senators' engagement with this legislation and thank them for it. I genuinely welcome that Members of all parties and none are supporting this legislation, which will bring a significant change to the planning process. It is required. I also welcome Senator Warfield and his party coming around to accepting the need for a transitional arrangement, unlike on Second Stage, where they did not believe that transitional arrangements were needed at all. Passing this Bil…

We discussed this on Committee Stage. I thank the Senators for retabling the amendment. I want the permissions to bring about homes for people. That is what we earnestly want. It means a big change in the process. I say genuinely respectfully that this amendment, as written, would be absolutely unworkable. I envisage the Oireachtas committee having a role in seeking information on what permissions have been granted and activated, but the amendment refers to "within 30 months of the passing of this Act". The legisla…

I have no difficulty at all looking at what we can do here by way of reporting. The Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage, on which I served during the term of the previous Oireachtas, will regularly seek details overall. We would have seen details on SHD. Regarding even the division of the four different items, the Senator is being very prescriptive as to what is looked for, and I cannot give a guarantee that we will be able within the first 30 months to have those data. Of course we will have …

I thank all Senators for their input and thank my officials. It has been a very informative, useful and progressive debate as the Bill moved through Second Stage and on to Committee and Report Stages. The House will have seen that where we have been able to accept amendments, we have done so and worked with Senators. We will look at a couple of items between now and the debate in the Dáil. I thank the Cathaoirleach, the team in the Seanad and my officials for the efficient and expeditious way in which this legislat…

I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach for his kind welcome. It is like I never left. I am grateful to Senators for facilitating the debate on this urgent rental legislation. I also wish to record my thanks to the Chief Whip and to the members of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage for enabling this Bill to be read a Second Time here in Seanad Éireann. I am asking Senators to pass the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2021 and to enable its early enactment to facilitate th…

It is great.

I feel like I am always here.

I thank all the Senators — Senators Buttimer, Black, Warfield, Murphy, Moynihan, Garvey and Cummins — for their contributions. It is very much appreciated that they took the time to put their views across. In case I forget, I inform the House now that I intend to introduce some technical amendments to section 5 on Committee Stage in the interests of clarity. I greatly appreciate Senator Black's constructive contribution and those of Senator Moynihan and others. The Bill is not a silver bullet and, as they highlight…

I thank Senators Higgins and Black for tabling amendments Nos. 1 to 4, inclusive. I will deal with the first three together. These proposed changes are positive and they arise out of the considerations of the SHD consultative forum. In particular, the Bill proposed to increase the “other use” allowance from 15%, which was far too restrictive, to 30%, and it would encompass all of the various things the Senator has mentioned. That is up to the planners. I do not want to be prescriptive as to exactly what is in that …

I agree with my colleagues. I understand the thrust of the amendments but I ask Senator Higgins how many brownfield site developments we have seen happen in any of our major cities in recent years. We are bringing forward this change because it has been deemed necessary post SHD to get rid of SHDs and get planning back to where it should be with the local authorities so the planners make the decisions on what is required in any given area. We are not changing it to up to 30% to enhance the commercial viability. It …

I thank the Senators for their considered amendments. We need to have a consistent planning approach and we need to be able to set guidelines. Any Minister needs to be able to do this. The amendment to delete section 28(1C) of the Planning and Development Act would remove a legislative provision introduced to empower the Minister to ensure a nationally consistent approach to planning by all 31 local authorities, the three regional assemblies and An Bord Pleanála, when implementing national planning policy. That is …

I do not call into question the Senators' motivation in tabling the amendments. The motivation may be sound but the effects could be genuinely catastrophic and could remove powers from any Minister to make some changes by way of guidelines in the future. I am not questioning, nor would I, their motivation for tabling the amendments but I cannot accept them.

I thank Senators for the amendments. I will deal first with amendment No. 7, tabled by Senators Boyhan, Keogan and Craughwell. There is much merit in the amendment but, as highlighted by Senator Boyhan, there is an issue with the wording of it. I had intended to do what is proposed by way of regulations but I am happy to work with the Senators on a re-worded amendment for Report Stage. We need to get the wording correct. I respect where the amendment comes from. We need to make sure there is an appropriate role for…

I would like to respond to the Senator's point. The purpose of bringing the planning back to the local authorities is to ensure we do not have a situation where planning permissions are granted that are contrary to development plans, local area plans or masterplans. We had some instances of that. I take the point the Senator is making. Report Stage being next week gives us time to work through that. We will do that. I give that commitment. The Senator will retable it for Report Stage and we then will be able to acc…

Unfortunately, I am not in a position to accept either amendment. What we are trying to do in this legislation, and what will work, is to streamline the planning process, to get it back to local authorities. Submitting an observation on a planning application is the correct and long-established way for anyone to make an observation on a planning application. The frustration there has been heretofore with SHDs is that one could not do that. If the board decision was granted, the next step was to go to the courts. We…

I understand why the amendments are tabled but I will not be accepting them. I will explain why. Fundamentally, what we are doing here is returning LRD-type developments to the local level. The importance and emphasis on the development plan is being restored. That is an important reserved function of our councillors. Regarding everything the Minister of State, Deputy Burke, and I set out to do to date in local government, going back to the terms and conditions for councillors, to which we gave a commitment, and to…