251A.—(1) Where calculating any appropriate period, specified period or other time limit referred to in the following Acts or provisions, or in any regulations made under those Acts or provisions, the period referred to in subsection (2) shall be disregarded:

(a) sections 4(4), 6 and 17(6) of the Building Control Act 1990;

(b) the Derelict Sites Act 1990;

(c) this Act;

(d) Part 2 of the Urban Regeneration and Housing Act 2015;

(e) Chapter 1 of Part 2 of the Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Act 2016.

(2) The period to be disregarded under subsection (1) is the period beginning on the date section 9 of the Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (Covid-19) Act 2020 comes into operation and, subject to subsection (6), ending on the date that shall be specified by order under subsection (3) or that may be specified by order under subsection (4).

(3) Immediately following the coming into operation of section 9 of the Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (Covid-19) Act 2020 the Government shall, at the request of the Minister made after consultation with the Minister for Health and with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, by order specify the date on which the period to be disregarded under subsection (1) shall end.

(4) The Government, at the request of the Minister made after consultation with the Minister for Health and with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, may by order—

(a) before the expiration of the period specified in the order under subsection (3), specify a date later than the date specified in that order on which the period to be disregarded under subsection (1) shall end, and

(b) thereafter, from time to time, but before the expiration of the period specified in the order made under paragraph (a), or where an order has been previously made under this paragraph, before the expiration of the period specified in the last order so made, specify a date later than the date specified in that order, on which the period to be disregarded under subsection (1) shall end.

(5) The Government, in deciding the date that shall be specified by order under subsection (3), or that may be specified by order under subsection (4), shall have regard to—

(a) the nature and potential impact of Covid-19 on individuals, society and the State,

(b) the capacity of the State to respond to the risk to public health posed by the spread of Covid-19,

(c) the policies and objectives of the Government to protect the health and welfare of members of the public,

(d) the need to mitigate the economic effects of the spread of Covid-19,

(e) the need to ensure the effective operation of the planning system and provide, in the interest of the common good, for proper planning and sustainable development,

(f) the need to ensure the effective operation of the building control system and to protect the health, safety and welfare of persons using buildings, and

(g) the need to mitigate the likely impact of Covid-19 on the availability of the resources of the State to perform functions relating to the planning and building control systems.

(6) The date that shall be specified by order under subsection (3), or that may be specified by order under subsection (4), as the date on which the period to be disregarded under subsection (1) shall end, shall be a date not later than the 9th day of November 2020.

(7) In this section "Covid-19" means a disease caused by infection with the virus SARS-CoV-2 and specified as an infectious disease in accordance with Regulation 6 of, and the Schedule to, the Infectious Diseases Regulations 1981 (S.I. No. 390 of 1981) or any variant of the disease so specified as an infectious disease in those Regulations.]