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move: Tuesday's business shall be: - Motion re Referral to Joint Committee of Planning and Development (Exempted Development (Act of 2000)) (No. 2) Regulations 2025 (without debate and any division claimed to be taken immediately) - Motion re Appointment of Members of the Irish Human Rights … Bill 2025 (Report and Final Stages) (to conclude within 30 minutes) - Motion re Proposed approval by Dáil Éireann of the Planning and Development (Exempted Development (Act of 2000)) Regulations 2025* - Motion re Proposed approval by Dáil Éireann of the Planning and Development (Exempted Development

move: That Dáil Éireann approves the following Regulations in draft: Planning and Development (Exempted Development (Act of 2000)) Regulations 2025, a copy of which was laid in draft form before Dáil Éireann on 27th November, 2025. I welcome the opportunity to discuss the draft regulations … rationale and reasoning behind their development. The draft Planning and Development (Exempted Development (Act of 2000)) Regulations 2025 have regard to the existing planning exemption for the change of use of vacant commercial properties to residential use. The draft regulations propose to amend the Planning

Sinn Féin will be supporting both sets of exempted development regulations. They are modest and reasonable and, in our view, they are sensible. We have no issue with them proceeding. However, I will put on the record of the Dáil my deep dissatisfaction at the manner … letter from the Minister of State that there was going to be a need for significant amendments to the agricultural exempted development regulations. In a move completely unprecedented in my decade in the Dáil, the Minister requested our committee to do something that, on foot of legal

separate motions are being debated in this slot: the motion regarding the proposed approval by Dáil Éireann of the Planning and Development (Exempted Development (Act of 2000)) Regulations 2025 and the motion regarding the proposed approval by Dáil Éireann of the Planning and Development (Exempted

division claimed to be taken immediately) - Motion re Referral to Committee of Proposed approval by Dáil Éireann of the Planning and Development (Exempted Development (Act of 2000)) Regulations 2025 (without debate and any division claimed to be taken immediately) Wednesday's private members' business shall … immediately; and 11. the proceedings on the Motion re Referral to Committee of Proposed approval by Dáil Éireann of the Planning and Development (Exempted Development (Act of 2000)) Regulations 2025 shall be taken without debate and any division claimed thereon shall be taken immediately. In relation

colleague said, we are supporting both these motions. At committee, the Minister said these exempted developments have been hugely successful. While I believe commercial units being returned as homes is a good thing, it has not reached the potential it could. We look at villages and areas … bells. We see these communities with shops, offices and pubs boarded up and closed for decades, not years. If these exempted developments were working, we would see the return of those properties as homes. As there are still businesses in the heart of these communities, were more

number of issues in Limerick in recent times in relation to Georgian buildings, the owners of which have benefited from the exempted development guidelines. In some cases, they have been fantastic. In other cases, they have been less than fantastic. We have had issues whereby people have … resilience or compliance with EU and national law. This brings me on to a brief point before I conclude about the upcoming exempted development guidelines for residential development. I have a slight concern there about the potential unintended consequences of the proposed changes around, essentially, substandard

move: That Dáil Éireann approves the following Regulations in draft: Planning and Development (Exempted Development (Act of 2000)) (No. 2) Regulations 2025, a copy of which was laid in draft form before Dáil Éireann on 9th December

move: That the proposal that Dáil Éireann approves the following Regulations in draft: Planning and Development (Exempted Development (Act of 2000)) (No. 2) Regulations 2025, a copy of which has been laid in draft form before Dáil Éireann on 9th December, 2025, be referred

move: That the proposal that Dáil Éireann approves the following Regulations in draft: Planning and Development (Exempted Development (Act of 2000)) Regulations 2025, a copy of which has been laid in draft form before Dáil Éireann on 27th November, 2025, be referred to the Joint Committee

overkill and that when Uisce Éireann works with the developer, it can take them over swiftly and efficiently so that developers are not waiting for the ESB or Uisce Éireann but have collaborative partners that want to see them get the job done and get these … will make is around the backyard modular units. I have a fear that whenever the guidelines come out for the updated exempted development guidelines, they will be over-specced and overkill, and people will not have that flexibility to do what they need in their own back

what the benefit of this change is to the local authority in question or, indeed, to the process of material alterations to development plans that the Minister has requested and with respect to the new housing targets and zoning requirements would be very useful. It is interesting … procedure. In the Minister's concluding remarks, it would be useful to know why. Typically, when we deal with, for example, exempted development regulations in planning, there is a motion for it to go to committee, the committee scrutinises it and then unless there is something very

with the Minister for public expenditure and the Minister for climate and transport, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, to ensure we can underpin the development of DART+ South West. We can make progress on that to give the certainty that the council, Deputy Moynihan and the people … Deputy O'Meara spoke about log cabins and modular homes. I hope that the Minister will in February have a list of exempted developments. I understand it has expanded significantly. There have been a lot of submissions from Government Departments and agencies, particularly those with acute issues

simply a privilege for building on your own land. First, will we see these planning regulations that will exempt log cabins? Second, will this go beyond backyard developments and allow them in rural areas? Third, when will we see the regulations

planning permissions and brought in measures to make developments viable again which Sinn Féin opposes at each and every opportunity. It is why even today the Minister of State, Deputy Cummins, has signed an order to continue planning exemptions for the conversion of vacant commercial properties into

particularly in building apartments. Delivering Homes, Building Communities details a suite of complementary measures to do just this. They will result in the development of thousands of new apartments. The measures include: the changes announced to rent pressure zones, RPZs, to attract private investment back into … planning design standards for apartments; a reduction in the VAT rate to 9% from 13.5%; an enhanced corporation tax deduction; and an exemption from corporation tax for cost-rental homes. The cumulative impact of these could result in a reduction of up to €160,000 in the cost

that were laid down by the Department. We need more land zoned for development. That is important. Then we had the national development plan, which provided funding. We then had Delivering Homes, Building Communities. Today, we have the accelerated infrastructure task force report and action plan … looking at planning exemptions. Modular homes came up. A body of work is under way at the moment to look at planning. The point is that this is a co-ordinated and comprehensive plan, including the national planning framework, the national development plan, the plan we have

serviced and identified on maps published by local authorities, but which is not residential property. The RZLT aims to prompt residential development by incentivising landowners to activate existing planning permissions, or to engage with planning authorities to seek planning permission in respect of relevant land. Revenue … first charged on 1 February 2025. Information in respect of the amount of RZLT declared, the number of exemptions claimed, and the total hectares returned, including and excluding exempt land, is published within the October 2025 property taxes report available on the Revenue website: www.revenue.ie/en/corporate/information-about-revenue/statistics/property-taxes/yearly-stats/2025/index.aspx. It shows

back to the Minister. It was a good point. I do no know where we are on it in terms of the national development plan but there is no question that Galway city is facing enormous congestion, including all the areas feeding into Galway city … have asked the Minister, James Browne, to accelerate the work on the guidelines. The unit in his Department is also working on planning exemptions. There is a lot of work there. The Department is also working on rural guidelines for housing and one-off housing. There

While accommodation for special classes can be provided within existing unused accommodation in many instances, modular accommodation can be installed under existing planning exemptions. In this case, a planning application was required. The planning application is to facilitate the provision of both special education and mainstream classrooms under … place at the start of a school year, the NCSE works closely with the schools and families to support the development of contingency arrangements for students enrolled in the new special classes. Teaching and special needs assistants have been allocated to schools that are opening new special

thought and attention and the resulting drafting process has taken a little longer than expected. The first amendment relates to allowing for an exemption from the general principal of the scheme, for example that houses be remediated in more or less the exact location as they … date, I remain acutely aware that it needs to be closely monitored and changed as our experience and knowledge of this complex issue develops. That is what this Bill is about. It builds on the Government funding for defective concrete block work that continues to be provided

asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his plans to conduct an environmental impact assessment in terms of the revised exempted development provisions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [68009/25

asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he plans to further extend the Article 10(6)(a) exemptions under the Planning and Development Regulations 2001 (as amended), which are due to end on 31 December 2025; and if he will make a statement

section 5 planning exemption that underpinned its use; if his Department respects the role and decisions of the courts; the action he will take as a result of this court agreement to ensure that the State is not engaging with an unauthorised development; and if he will

Deputy Robert O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Transport his plans to extend the current M50 and Eastlink toll exemptions for motorcycles to all tolled roads; the plans to adjust the annual motorbike road tax for example from €88 to €100 in exchange for nationwide toll access … post-pay online, linked to their registration plate, avoiding the need to stop at toll pay points; the plans to develop a weather-resistant toll tag specifically designed for motorcycles; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [71692/25