Eradicating bottlenecks to tackle chronic delays in housing deliveries was a major driving force behind last year’s Planning and Development Act. “Clarity, consistency and certainty” were the keywords from former housing minister Darragh O’Brien as the third largest piece of legislation in the history of the state dropped in October 2024. The consensus in government was that planning had become overly complex and fragmented – the 2000 Planning and Development Act had been substantively amended over 30 times – and this patchwork was becoming difficult for planners and developers to negotiate. Then there was the political baggage: There was heat…