The key aim of the review and consolidation of the Planning and Development Act 2000, which was led by the Attorney General, was to put plan-making at the centre of the planning system by bringing increased clarity and streamlining to the legislation and improving the functioning of the planning system for both practitioners and the general public. This Review and the draft Bill it has produced represents the most comprehensive review of planning since the Act was first drafted.
The draft Planning and Development Bill 2022 was agreed by Government on the 13 December 2022 and the Draft Bill was published on my Department's website on 25 January 2023.
Pre-legislative scrutiny by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage commenced on 7 February and is expected to be completed by the end of March.
Once concluded a final Bill will be published and progressed through the Houses of the Oireachtas with the hope that it will be enacted before Summer 2023, subject to the Oireachtas timetable.