A landmark Planning and Development Bill has been approved in the Dáil tonight.
It includes changes to An Bord Pleanála - to be known as An Coimisiún Pleanála - and reforming the process for taking judicial reviews.
The bill also includes the creation of Urban Development Zones to facilitate a more plan-led approach to development and provisions to deter abuse of planning processes through "spurious planning submissions and appeals".
It will now go to President Michael D Higgins to be signed into law.
Housing Minister Darragh O'Brien said the bill's passage is a "pivotal moment" to ensure there is a fit-for-purpose planning system.
"In Housing for All, we committed to overhauling our planning legislation to ensure it was fit for purpose," he said.
"This legislation does just that by providing clarity, consistency and certainty for all users.
"Because of this legislation we will have a planning system which matches our strong ambitions for housing delivery and critical infrastructure over the coming decades."
Minister O'Brien added that the legislation "has been subject to more than 175 hours of debate across both Houses of the Oireachtas".
Mark Ruffalo
It has come in for criticism from Hollywood actor Mark Ruffalo who claims it is an attempt to "to jam through a bill to fast-track building Liquid Natural Gas terminals".
In a staged video interview on his Instagram, he claimed the Green Party was breaking its own promises.
"The Irish Green Party’s about to do something really terrible to the environment and our climate," he said.
"They’re trying to jam through a bill to fast-track building Liquid Natural Gas terminals that would import fracked gas from the United States and I need you to help me tell the Irish people all about it.
"The Green Party, which promised the voters that they would stop the import of fracked gas and LNG when they joined the coalition government in 2020, but since then they've been opening the door for the Irish Government to build an LNG terminal in the Shannon Estuary of all places".
Mark Ruffalo, seen in this file photo, voiced concern over the Planning and Development BillArts Minister and former Green Party deputy leader Catherine Martin rejected the criticism, saying the party "have always been and remain vehemently opposed to the importation of fracked gas to a commercial facility - that is still our position".
"That has not happened under our watch in this current Government," she told Newstalk earlier.
"What's being proposed in the planning bill is about a backup facility - it will not be commercial, it will not be fracked gas," she added.
Friends of the Earth has said the changes to the planning bill would designate the proposed LNG terminal as "strategic infrastructure" – meaning the planning application could be fast-tracked to An Bord Pleanála.
