Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I will withdraw amendments Nos. 123, 156, 159 and 251. Amendments Nos. 120 and 124 are minor amendments to the definitions in section 15 to reflect new terminology used by the CSO to define towns for the purpose of a census. The CSO has introduced the use of the term "built up areas", BUAs, in the context of primary urban geography in future censuses. This term replaces that of "census towns", and these amendments reflects this terminology in the Bill. The amendments provide for a new definition of “built up area”, as well as a revised definition for a “settlement”, which will now include a reference to a built up area.

Amendment No. 160 amends the procedures for preparing the national planning framework to take account of the time required to incorporate the census statistics into a revised NPF. The NPF relies heavily on the census statistics, which are often only available one and a half years after the census occurs. The Bill currently provides that a review of the NPF must be completed two years from the second occurrence of the census held after the previous review. Tying the timeframe for reviewing the NPF to the occurrence of the census rather than the publication of the results of said census may result in an inadequate period for the review and reflection of census data in the NPF. This amendment proposes to tie the NPF review timeframe to one year from the publication of the results from the second occurrence of the census held after the previous review.

This will ensure that the review of the NPF is linked to the publication of census results to provide an up-to-date evidence base for planning-led development.