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

That is correct and we had a very good discussion there. A lot of changes were made following the committee meetings. Those meetings fed into the plan, and rightly so.

I want to start by saying that the national planning framework is a national plan. It has a high-level ambition of creating a single vision, a shared set of goals for every community across the country and of delivering these in a way that makes sense for our communities, rural and urban alike. Let us get that joined up. We must recognise that very often rural and urban areas are intertwined and depend on each other. As a TD, I represent two counties, County Meath and County Westmeath. In the constituency there are large towns like Navan and Trim and many rural villages like Castlepollard, Oldcastle, Delvin and Fore. There are many TDs who represent urban and rural areas, just like Deputy Nolan, and we understand that.

Likewise, the Department that led this, my Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, very much understands the breakdown of urban and rural areas, how they are linked and dependent on each other and how one can help the other. That was the logic guiding our plan from the start. I hope people can understand that.

The national planning framework recognises the need for sustainable and co-ordinated development of our towns, villages and rural communities. To this end, regional, spatial and economic strategies will also be developed. Three strategies will be developed from of the national plan. Work has started on them this year and will finish in 2019. These plans will link strategic national planning and investment with regional-scaled physical planning and the local economic and community development functions of local authorities. Each local authority will develop its own county development plan and will also be able to set out its own ambitions for its urban and rural areas in order to develop both. That is what we want them to do.

In fact, a full chapter of the national planning framework is dedicated to planing for diverse rural places, which builds from the Government's action plan for rural development. This recognises that rural areas continue to undergo change due to economic restructuring arising from a more globalised economy, a move away from traditional agriculture and the influence of increased mobility and easier access to urban centres. Again, I make it very clear. People often say that rural Ireland is not functioning, or is dead and gone. However, I refer to Westport or Clonakilty, two rural areas that are thriving because they had a plan and a logic. That is what we are asking for in the national planning framework, through the regional plan and the county plans; that there is a plan for a county, a rural village, a rural area or a town. The authorities must put a plan in place and make it happen.

It does not happen by just clicking one's fingers. One must plan for it, allow for it and fund it. Likewise, as for getting jobs into any county, we want to create the environment whereby jobs can be created. That is what we are trying to do by having this long-term plan for 20 to 25 years. Many of those towns I have just listed had long-term plans. For example, Portlaoise has a great plan for the town centre, which will help with investment into Portlaoise and win jobs for all areas of the town. Plans like that can now be funded.

Consultation and participation was key to the finalisation of the national planning framework. The national planning framework document maps this consultation process, starting in October 2014, when Government approval was given to commence drafting. There were two formal phases of public consultation during drafting - February and March of 2017 and October and November of 2017 - with over 40 regional events and workshops, many of which I attended and which involved both urban and rural agencies. There were four engagements with various Oireachtas joint committees, including the rural affairs committee, feedback from an expert advisory group and detailed submissions from a range of stakeholders, with every relevant Department and agency represented. In addition, development of the national planning framework was informed by a strategic environmental assessment. All of the submissions have been published on the national planning framework website. In the last round of consultation, there were more than 1,000 submissions, including 150 from Oireachtas Members, councillors and others involved in politics, and many members of the Deputy's party contributed to this. Every submission was looked at and used, and this fed into all of the changes made in the past couple of months.

I assure the Deputy that the consultation process and research used to underpin the plan were detailed and extensive. Development was supported by technical analysis, statistics, census data and other relevant research, including work carried out by the Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI. The process was led by my Department and overseen by a high-level cross-departmental steering group, which had its first meeting in March 2016 and included representatives from what is now the Department of Rural and Community Development. The evidence base underpinning the national planning framework includes the ESRI research study, entitled "Prospects for Irish regions and counties: scenarios and implications", which is available on the ESRI's website.

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