The Dáil has passed the Planning and Development Bill tonight with 72 TDs voting in favour of the legislation and 60 opposing it.
The Bill will now be sent to President Higgins and it will become law once he signs it.
Running to more than 900 pages, the legislation is a key part of the Government's plans to deal with the housing crisis.
Sinn Féin's housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin said that the coalition is progressing its bill in an "entirely inappropriate manner".
Speaking in the Dáil, he claimed the Minister for Housing Darragh O'Brien is showing contempt for both the Opposition, and Oireachtas procedures, by limiting discussions to three hours when there are so many amendments.
The Dublin Mid West TD said he could not understand why the Government was rushing this bill given the damage had previously been done when planning legislation was guillotined.
He said it was not just Opposition parties who were concerned at the process - the Irish Planning Institute, the professional body representing planners in Ireland, was also warning against such an approach.
However Minister O'Brien has dismissed claims that the bill is being rushed, claiming such suggestions are "completely and utterly incorrect".
He told the Dáil that this is the most significant reform of the planning process in a quarter of a century, which is urgent and needed.
The minister said the legislation dates back to September 2021, and involved nine sessions of pre-legislative scrutiny in which two thirds of the recommendations were fully of partially incorporated into the legislation.
At committee stage, he said there was 115 hours of debate on 1,200 amendments - some of which were duplicates or triplicates - after which there was 320 votes called.
He said it was now time to deliver planning reform, and that's what the government was doing.
The minister said that claims the bill was being rushed does not stand-up to scrutiny.
The proposed Planning and Development Bill will see An Bord Pleanála renamed to An Coimisiún Pleanála and a reformed process for taking judicial reviews introduced.
The Planning and Development Bill also sets out minimum requirements for organisations such as residents' groups to take a judicial review.
Residents associations will have to have constitution and will have to have held a vote to seek a judicial review.
The costs of taking a judicial review will have to be made known in advance.
The proposed law says local authorities will be mandated to draw up ten year development plans instead of six years at present.
The new planning board will be restructured with separation of corporate, decision making and governance functions.
Last week the Government introduced a significant number of amendments to the bill.
'Unacceptable' timeframe to deal with amendments - Bacik
Labour leader Ivana Bacik has claimed the Government's Planning and Development bill will do "real damage" to the planning system, delay the delivery of homes and concentrate power in the hands of the minister.
She said it was "unacceptable" that the Government proposed to deal with 177 pages of amendments in only three hours.
The Dublin Bay South deputy expressed considerable concern regarding provisions for the consideration of floating platforms for Liquid Natural Gas, or LNG.
She contended this was going to embed harmful fossil fuels into the long term, something which was a particular concern given the process of fracking which delivers a lot of LNG is associated with environmental degradation and rare cancers.
In reply, Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys said the bill had already been subject to an exhaustive 170 hours of debate and would be voted on.
She described the bill as hugely significant and vital for streamlining the planning process, introducing mandatory timelines, overhauling An Bord Pleanála and improving the process of judicial review.
Regarding LNG, she said the provisions were introduced to ensure that if there was ever "a massive energy crisis" then Ireland could have the required storage - if it was required.
The minister said it had "nothing, nothing, nothing to do with fracking" which was something the Government opposed.
Bill will lead to 'more delays'
The Social Democrats housing spokesperson Cian O'Callaghan said that he was "hugely concerned" that the Government was ramming the bill through the Dáil.
He predicted the approach would "backfire" and lead to "more delays and more costs" in the planning system.
The People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett said he was "very concerned" at the approach adopted by the Government.
He said the Government claims the bill will eliminate bottlenecks in the planning process, but he cannot see any evidence for that claim.
The Dun Laoghaire TD said he believed that, in fact, the bill will "serve the interests of the developers".
Independent TD Danny Healy-Rae said many parts of the bill favours Dublin and will not help people living in Kerry.
He said the legislation would dilute the powers of councillors and would ignore the needs of people on the ground.
The Kerry TD said the Bill was the "most serious thing" to come before TDs in the last four years and it would require another three weeks debate and not just three hours.
Protests against bill
Friends of the Earth Chief Executive Oisín Coghlan has criticised the inclusion of plans to allow for a temporary off-shore floating State-owned gas reserves in certain circumstances.
Mr Coghlan raised the issue with the Green Party which has been opposed to the introduction of liquified natural gas (LNG) facilities in Ireland.
He said the Government had introduced "last-minute amendments to the Planning Bill to designate LNG as strategic infrastructure".
Anti-fracking groups from counties Fermanagh, Leitrim and Cork have gathered outside the Dáil to protest the bill.
The groups have claimed that the legislation would allow for a LNG facility in Ireland which could store fracked gas.
A Green Party Government spokesman said any such facility would not include fracked gas and would not be a commercial plant.
Actor Mark Ruffalo has also raised concerns about the amendments to the legislation.
In a post on social media, he said "the Irish Green Party is about to do something terrible to the environment".
Irish friends, watch this video Alison Oliver and I made about how the @greenparty_ie is about to break its promise and pass a bill to fast-track & prioritise dangerous LNG terminals. Then sign & share the petition telling them to stop it and ban LNG! https://t.co/1TugQGHGoY pic.twitter.com/lhJVZUWpEo
— Mark Ruffalo (@MarkRuffalo) October 8, 2024
While the Irish @greenparty_ie backtrack on LNG, @SoniaFurstenau & @BCGreens show us what a principled Green Party looks like—committed to ending LNG expansion & fossil fuel subsidies, all while prioritizing people's health & well-being. @EamonRyan @rodericogorman @RoisinGarvey…
— Mark Ruffalo (@MarkRuffalo) October 9, 2024
Additional reporting David Murphy, Micheál Lehane
