Ms Kate Feeney:

I thank the Cathaoirleach and members for inviting the assembly to speak to the committee today. By way of background, and I know we have some former members here with Deputy Duffy, the Eastern and Midland Regional Assembly, EMRA, was established in 2015 as part of the existing regional tier of governance in Ireland. It covers 12 local authorities and includes three subregions or strategic planning areas. EMRA promotes multi-level governance, acting as a bridge between the local, regional, national and European levels. This role revolves around three axes, which are strategic planning and sustainable development, European affairs, and effectiveness in local government. The assembly focuses on driving regional development through the regional spatial and economic strategy, RSES. The current RSES for the period 2019 to 2031 came into effect in June 2019.

Of particular relevance to the matter being discussed today is that, within the RSES, we have a Dublin strategic planning area and a Dublin metropolitan area strategic plan, MASP. The MASP was prepared under the RSES, and sets out a 12- to 20-year strategic planning and investment framework to support job creation and accelerated housing supply in the Dublin metropolitan area. For our purposes, the Dublin metropolitan area covers all of Dublin city, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown and south Dublin, as well as parts of Fingal, Meath, Kildare and Wicklow. It is the first statutory plan for the metropolitan area of Dublin and was prepared in collaboration with the transport agencies, infrastructure providers and the relevant local authorities. The MASP contains an integrated land use and transportation strategy and also identifies infrastructure investment priorities to co-ordinate the phased delivery of strategic development sites in tandem with key public transport projects including MetroLink, DART and Luas expansion, and BusConnects.

The Dublin SPA and the Dublin MASP each has a committee, which provides a forum for elected members, including council and regional assembly members, to advance priorities and polices specific to each SPA. The governance structure for the MASP also comprises an implementation group, which includes stakeholders from infrastructure and enterprise agencies, local authorities and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, with the objective of overseeing and driving delivery of the MASP.

In addition, a number of statutory mechanisms are in place that support delivery across the Dublin metropolitan area. The regional assembly has a statutory oversight function ensuring consistency, under section 27 of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, regarding, as everyone in the room is aware, the preparation and making of draft development plans and variations to those plans. In this regard, EMRA works quite closely with local authorities in the preparation of city and county development plans, both formally by way of statutory submissions and informally through the executive. Section 25A of the Act requires that Departments and each local authority prepare and submit a report to the assembly every two years setting out progress made in supporting the objectives of the RSES. These reports form the basis of a monitoring report prepared by the regional assembly, detailing progress made in implementing the objectives of the RSES. The monitoring report is then submitted to the National Oversight and Audit Commission, NOAC. For the benefit of the committee, and as previously highlighted to it by the regional assemblies as part of the pre-legislative scrutiny of the draft planning and development Bill 2022, it should be noted that both of these statutory provisions are currently proposed for removal from the new planning Act.

While the foregoing might seem long-winded, it was important to set the scene for our views on the recommendations of the citizens' assembly report. We would like to bring certain suggestions to the committee's attention for further consideration. On the devolved powers to the directly elected mayor, it should be considered how the functions of the directly elected mayor will complement the regional assembly's role and functions. When considering this, the committee should have regard to the role and statutory functions of the regional assembly, including the RSES, the MASP, our oversight of county development plans and local economic community plans, the MASP committee and implementation group, the delivery of monitoring reports, and our functions associated with regional enterprise plans and the climate action plan. The committee should also consider whether it needs to establish any necessary monitoring and reporting obligations on the directly elected mayor to EMRA, similar to other Departments.

Consideration should be given as to how the proposed Dublin city and county assembly will interact with the regional assembly, including how it will sit alongside and interact with the existing governance arrangements around the MASP, its associated committees and groups, and the functional city-region approach that EMRA has employed in this respect. The committee should consider whether members of the Dublin city and county assembly will be represented on the regional assembly. In this respect, consideration should be given to balance on the assembly. Currently, Dublin City Council nominates seven members, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, south Dublin, Fingal, Meath, Kildare and Wicklow councils each nominate three, while the remaining local authorities each nominate two.

On the role and resourcing of councillors, recommendation 13 states that councillors should be made full time and be provided with full-time salaries and secretarial support. As mentioned, EMRA is comprised of members from 12 local authorities, eight of which are outside of County Dublin. Consideration should be given as to how this proposal might result in a two-tier system of elected members within the regional assembly and how it functions.

I will make a final point, if the Cathaoirleach will indulge me, that was not in my written statement. The committee should also consider how the directly elected mayor will interact with the Irish delegation to the Committee of the Regions, whether they will be eligible for membership and, again, the impact this two-tier membership would have on our delegation.

There is a lot of work in meshing a new office with existing structures. If the committee has any further questions or wishes to engage, we are happy to do so.