Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will touch on some of the issues. I will not be able to answer every question in detail because the idea is that I listen to members' contributions. There has been a lot of detail and the idea is we take it on board and try to reflect it in what we do in the weeks and months ahead in bringing this plan forward.

I will address the issue raised by Deputy McLoughlin. We have agreed as a result of feedback from the committee that there is a need to strengthen the wording to reflect the concerns that have been raised. The issue of what is happening north of the Dublin-Galway corridor has been raised a lot so we will strengthen our wording.

We have been trying to avoid a scattergun approach in which we name every village because that will not achieve what we are trying to achieve. It has to be regional. We are asking people to think regionally in order that everyone benefits from it. We need to strengthen the wording and we will work on doing that. We also need cities to be developed in order that they have an international footing and can compete at that level. There should be a trickle-down effect if it is planned in the right way. That is what we are trying to do.

It is not to limit the growth of other large towns or villages but to recognise we need to grow cities in a proper, desirable and sustainable way in order that they are more attractive places for investment and we avoid the congestion Senator Mulherin referred to. It is a reality that thousands of people go to work in Galway and they will continue to do that. In addition to providing jobs outside of Galway, there will be more jobs in Galway because Galway is a major player. We recognise that in the strategy. We want to invest more in Galway to serve the region and to help it grow. That is not to say we do not have similar growth in other towns and villages as well.

We also have to make sure our cities are managed in a sustainable way. The Senator mentioned what is happening at the moment. They are not being planned and managed in a sustainable way because we have not invested in the infrastructure needed to make them the world-class cities we want them to be. That is part of the strategy. We see Sligo, Athlone and the larger towns as large growth centres and we have to agree the wording and how we will focus on it.

Deputy McLoughlin touched on the issue of university status and Deputy Canney mentioned it too. The technical university and the link with Letterkenny, Galway, Mayo and Sligo was mentioned. We have agreed at previous meetings that to strengthen the conversation around the educational stakeholders and their significance in the strategy in the region. We will strengthen our wording.

The Atlantic corridor was mentioned. Mr. Paul Hogan and Mr. Niall Cussen are both involved in that task force. Deputy Canney is not here but he can fill them in afterwards. They are involved in that task force and they can sit in on those meetings. It is reflected in the document. We can strengthen our wording because it is something we want to build on. There are a lot of issues in Galway which we are working on. It is part of the Atlantic corridor.

The smarter growth initiative is about looking at these areas in larger towns in counties such as Mayo, Sligo, Galway or other counties such as Cavan and Monaghan. How do we drive growth in these areas? It will not happen unless we plan it. That is the conversation we are trying to have. We cannot set out the plan for every individual village and town in the national planning framework. This sets out the overall national planning framework and then we have the regional strategies and county development plans. They have to focus in and make choices and pick the areas. The idea is the resources will be put in to make it happen and not just to talk about it. It is a decision for a regional level as well as a county level. It would not be right for us to list all the towns and villages. We want a bottom-up approach as well. We will set out the overall ambition for the region and then try to focus the development as best we possibly can.

Everybody talked about the different Departments. Unlike in the past, our Department is leading this and putting it together. The various Departments and agencies have been around the table and have been part of the strategy. They are buying into it and have fed into it. They will have responsibilities to make sure it happens, whether it is the IDA, Enterprise Ireland, the HSE or the education players around the table. They are all part of this. They were not part of it in the past. They did not necessarily buy into it or follow through with the plans. The Senator was right. If we are going to target jobs growth in certain parts of Sligo or Mayo and the IDA, Enterprise Ireland and the Department are not with us, it will not happen. It goes back to what Deputy Canney said about planning in certain places. It is about having a balance and planning it out.

Meat on the bone was mentioned by everybody. It is not for the national planning framework to put all the meat on all the bone. Its purpose is to allow for it, put it in a national context and make sure it happens at a regional and county level and for the committee to be part of that conversation.

With regard to the issue of staff in local authorities, the Department recognises there is a great difficulty with local authorities which are rebuilding their capacity to deal with housing, planning and all the other services they provide. Local authorities are central to all walks of life in their communities. We are strengthening their teams. More than 600 additional staff have been sanctioned already in the planning and housing sections. We will build up those teams even more. We are also looking at the resources for each county. The whole idea of having the national planning framework is to try to plan out the future for each local authority and what they will have in terms of being able to raise money. If there is proper growth in their area from proper job creation, they will get rates and so on. That is what this about. We recognise they need to strengthen their teams of people. Where there are shortages of certain skills in local authorities, whether in architecture or planning, that affect bringing forward housing and development plans, we will strengthen those teams and work with them on that. They are being asked to let us know when they need additional resources. They should let us know not only that they want more staff but what they want the staff for, what they want to do and where they are short of various skills.

I engaged with a local authority recently which informed me that it had received sanction for extra staff and that it was seeking further funding for training. I asked whether it would not hire people with the necessary skills. We ask that if an authority needs architects, it should employ them and not people who must be trained. We are providing the resources and ask that local authorities strengthen their teams in the various areas in order to bring the plans to fruition.

There was a reference to connectivity. That is the idea here, whereby connectivity is planned for and then the infrastructure to facilitate it - whether in the context of broadband, increased road infrastructure or high-speed rail - is put in place. Decisions must be make regarding where it is required and then provision must be supported by means of the capital investment plan. That is what we are trying to do.