I will address amendments Nos. 3, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 25. I know Members may want to address the amendments to my amendments first perhaps before I respond.

Let me address the Senators’ proposed amendments. Senators Higgins and Stephenson have tabled a proposed amendment to amendment No. 13, which seeks to provide that the variation of a development plan on foot of a national planning statement or the fact that the provision of the NPF or the RSES takes precedence over a provision of the development plan continued in force from the Act of 2000 “shall not operate to remove, limit, reduce or otherwise compromise the use of enjoyment of a public right of way contained in …

Amendment No. 4 seeks to repeal the Office of the Planning Regulator. As everyone knows, the OPR was established in April 2019 on foot of recommendations made by the Mahon tribunal. It made 64 recommendations aimed at significantly enhancing the transparency of planning in Ireland, against a backdrop of significant historical deficiencies in decision-making on local authority development plans or other planning functions. The OPR carries out a range of important and significant functions which assist with the effec…

Shortly.

Shortly.

Very shortly.

Yes. As I said, I am opposing the amendment because I believe it will have a negative impact on the planning system. As I said in my initial comments as well, the housing growth requirements will be notified to local authorities very shortly. It is important to put in context the previous housing growth requirements at 30,000 units per annum. The national planning framework adopted by both Houses of this Oireachtas has it at 50,000 units plus. This requires a significant increase in zoned land to be able to facilit…

I know this is being welcomed by the Senator, but it is also important to say that the OPR is independent of the Department. It is also important to say there have been changes in the 2024 Act, which was debated in this Chamber. I was sitting on that side of the House last year in respect of the changes to the OPR in terms of the advisory board, which will be in place by the end of this year. To address a few other points, this explanatory note to all the amendments was circulated by my office last Friday. It was c…

Amendments Nos. 5 to 8, inclusive, as tabled by Senator Keogan, seek to delete sections 21 to 24, inclusive, of the Act of 2024, which relate to the national planning framework, NPF. I cannot accept these amendments as the NPF is provided for in the existing and new planning legislation and sits at the apex of the hierarchy of our statutory spatial development plans, the purpose of which is to ensure the sustainable development of our urban and rural areas to 2040 with the core objectives of securing balanced regio…

Amendment No. 9 amends section 30 of the Act of 2024 to clarify the trigger for the first review of an existing regional spatial and economic strategy under the Act of 2024 and is necessary for the commencement of Part 3 of the Act of 2024. Section 31 currently provides that a regional assembly shall commence a review of the RSES not later than six months after the publication of a revised or new NPF under Chapter 2 of the Act of 2024. As a revised NPF was recently published under the Act of 2000 and will continue …

Amendments Nos. 10 to 12, inclusive, all relate to the zoning of land. Amendment No. 10 seeks to provide that the regional economic and spatial strategies shall allow for the zoning of land for the particular use of affordable housing. I cannot accept this amendment as zoning requirements are adequately dealt with within the 2024 Act. The purpose of land use zonings is to indicate the development management objectives of the planning authority's administrative area generally whether residential, commercial, agricul…

I will speak on amendment Nos. 20, 29, 30 and 31. There are proposed amendments to my amendments-----

-----by Senators Stephenson and Higgins. Perhaps, they might like to speak to those amendments to my amendments.

I cannot accept the amendments proposed by Senators Stephenson and Higgins because what they are seeking to achieve is already achieved by Government amendment No. 20, namely that a housing strategy under the Act of 2024 can only be either the housing strategy saved by way of section 68 or 69, or the housing strategy in a new development plan made under Part 3. Amendment No. 20 amends the transitional provision in section 242(12) of the Act of 2024 for two purposes. The first is an amendment, similar to those discu…

Amendments Nos. 26, 27 and 28 all correct minor errors in the Act of 2024. Amendment No. 26 corrects a reference to the Criminal Justice Act 2006 in section 355 of the Act of 2024. Currently the reference incorrectly refers to subsection 177 of that Act. This has been updated to refer to section 177 of that Act. I invite Senators Stephenson and Higgins to speak to amendments Nos. 27 and 28, to which they have tabled amendments.

Senators Higgins's and Stephenson's proposed amendments to amendments Nos. 27 and 28 seek to delete sections 410(1)(c) and 423(1)(c) of the Act of 2024, which provide for the continued vesting of the function of the Minister or the Commission for Energy Regulation under sections 31 and 32 of the Second Schedule to the Gas Act 1976 in relation to the compulsory acquisition of land in respect of a strategic gas infrastructure development in An Coimisiún Pleanála. I cannot accept this amendment. It has been long estab…

I will address amendments Nos. 32, 47, 48 and 49. Perhaps the Senators wish to speak to their amendments to my amendments first before I respond.

I want to address a few points before going into specific amendments. Reference was made to the fact these amendments were not flagged. It is important to state this was flagged both on Second Stage in the Dáil and on Second Stage in the Seanad last week. As I said in response to Senator McDowell, a briefing paper on all Government amendments was issued to all Senators last Friday.

A briefing session was carried out with Oireachtas joint committee members on Monday. Importantly, these amendments could only have been made after the publication of the apartment guidelines last week. Questions were asked about the costs. Details on savings were also provided to the Oireachtas joint committee. I appreciate Senator Boyhan is no longer on the Oireachtas Joint Committee for Housing, Local Government and Heritage but I will make sure he gets a copy. In general on the points that have been made, nobod…

I will now address amendments Nos. 34 and 56, as tabled by Senators McCormack, Murphy, Andrews, Collins, Ryan and Tully, and amendments Nos. 35 to 40, inclusive, and 42, as tabled by Senators Higgins and Stephenson. These amendments relate to the extension-of-duration provisions of the Bill. Amendment No. 34 seeks to provide that as part of an application for an extension of duration, the applicant shall submit a viability assessment and a detailed schedule of works. Amendment No. 36 seeks to amend the extension-of…