Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The previous Deputy said he was speaking as our spokesperson for the Dublin area. I will be parochial in my comments as well. I am speaking as a Deputy for Tipperary. In terms of balanced regional development, the draft document most definitely does not fulfil that title. The Government gave a commitment that this new national planning framework would not be business as usual and would not repeat past mistakes. As outlined in the Planning and Development Bill 2016, the following objective will be enshrined in legislation: "to secure balanced regional development by maximising the potential of the regions..."

This policy statement and legislation create a clear expectation that a draft plan would deliver on this objective and that it would support the growth of the regions and provide a meaningful counterbalance to the uncontrolled growth of the greater Dublin region. The population projections provided for in the draft plan are the eastern and midlands assembly area with 2.8 million or 48% of the population; the northern and western assembly area with 1 million or 17% of the population; and the southern assembly area with 2 million or 34% of the population. These population projections, when analysed further, represent little or no targeted growth in Tipperary’s towns, villages and rural areas over the lifetime of the plan.

If the Government is to deliver meaningful, balanced regional development through socio-economic growth and to support the viability of rural communities, there needs to be a re-examination of population distribution. This will have serious implications for the future of rural counties. The estimated potential population growth in Tipperary is 196,000 people in allocated growth figures. Of those, 60,000 or 16% will be in large towns and the remaining population for small towns, which are defined as below 10,000 people, is 119,000. Distributed between the nine counties in the southern region, with proportions to be decided by a regional spatial and economic strategy, RSES, it should be 13,222 people each between 2018 and 2040. That is an average growth in the 22 year period of the plan of 601 people per annum, or 240 houses in our county per annum.

On the urban structure of the towns, the draft plan has sought to draw a distinction between urban areas above 10,000 people and the remainder of the country. Rather than go with the CSO designation of a rural town being anything under 1,500 people, the NPF has used a higher figure of 10,000 people. The only large town in this category in Tipperary is Clonmel. Other towns such as Thurles, Nenagh, Carrick-on-Suir, Roscrea, Tipperary town, Cashel, and Templemore are effectively defined

The draft plan does not prioritise the growth and investment needed in infrastructure, such as ports, airports, road and rail infrastructure in the southern region. The growth and development of strategic infrastructure is critical if balanced regional development is to be achieved over the lifetime of the NPF. Critical regional infrastructure should be identified for growth and development and included in the national investment plan. Construction of the M24 linking Limerick, Waterford and Cork is essential.

On the growth and expansion of Shannon and Waterford airports, Shannon Airport has the potential to build upon well established aviation related activities, while also growing passengers numbers, through utilising existing public capital investment. The growth and expansion of Foynes, Rosslare and Belview ports will be even more critical once Brexit becomes a reality. Also vital is the protection and development of intercity rail lines such as the Limerick to Dublin line, Limerick to Waterford and Limerick-Nenagh-Ballybrophy.

Climate change and the transition to a low-carbon economy are key global challenges of our times and effective spatial planning and development should be at the heart of the solution. I urge the Department to include a stronger national policy response to promote renewable energies and ensure that energy considerations become part of all spatial planning processes. It is welcome that County Tipperary’s leadership has been recognised in the draft NPF. Tipperary can become a pilot and best practice location for the further development of energy production, the bio-economy, rural development and the creation of jobs in this sector. Hopefully Bord na Móna and Coillte will play their part and use their extensive infrastructure to ensure that this becomes a reality.

Our plan must deliver on its core aim of achieving balanced regional development in order to achieve an internationally competitive and sustainable economy and a better quality of life for our citizens. The draft plan, as published, will not deliver on this central aim, with particular respect to the strategy outlined for growing the regions, the urban structure presented, and the lack of a clear vision and policy framework for towns and villages in rural areas. If the plan goes ahead as presented in this draft, the rural towns in my constituency, which have been under pressure for long years, will go into even greater decline.

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