Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am taking this Topical Issue on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien; and the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke. I wish the Minister of State the very best as well.

I thank Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan for his question on the activities of the OPR concerning county and city development plans. It is probable that the Deputy has already heard much of the response I am about to give him. The Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, gives the OPR a statutory basis to carry out three main functions. One core function of the OPR is the independent assessment of all local authority and regional assembly statutory plan-making processes. This includes county and city development plans, local area plans, and regional spatial and economic strategies. The OPR provides observations during the drafting of statutory plans. If the OPR finds that a local authority's plans are ultimately not consistent with relevant regional or national policies, it can recommend the use of ministerial powers of direction to bring plans back in line with statutory requirements and best practice. If the Minister does not agree with the recommendations of the OPR, he or she must prepare a statement of reasons for this decision which is then laid before both Houses of the Oireachtas.

Recommendations issued by the OPR relate to clear breaches of the relevant legislative provisions, the national or regional policy framework or Government policy, as set out in ministerial guidelines under section 28 of the Act. As such, the planning authority is required to implement or address recommendations made by the OPR in order to ensure consistency with the relevant policy and legislative provisions. The Minister's powers pursuant to the section 31 process are invoked on receipt of a notice issued by the OPR in accordance with section 31AM(8) of the Act. Since its establishment in April 2019, the OPR has assessed and evaluated 22 city and county development plans to adoption stage. Of the 22 adopted plans, 13 have been the subject of a section 31AM(8) notice letter from the OPR to the Minister of State with responsibility for planning and local government recommending that the Minister issue a draft direction. All 13 draft directions have been issued by the Minister. The OPR has to date recommended that the Minister issue final direction notice letters on 12 of those, with the outstanding one due to be issued to the Minister by mid-January 2023. To date, final section 31 directions have been issued on seven development plans. The remaining recommendations are under consideration by the Minister.

The planning issues which were the subject of the seven section 31 final directions issued by the Minister on county development plan reviews can be summarised generally as follows: excessive and inappropriate land use zonings for a variety of land uses, often in peripheral locations at a remove from settlements or subject to a number of specific site constraints including flooding, access and servicing; the inclusion of conflicting wind energy policies; prohibitive policies related to the banning or limiting of certain types of development; and flood risk management. There have been four occasions when the Minister has decided not to include all of the recommendations made by the OPR in issuing either a draft or a final direction. The four directions in question are as follows: the section 31 draft direction on the Kerry county development plan 2022-28 did not issue on one of the recommendations made by the OPR relating to renewable energy targets; the section 31 final direction on the Cork county development plan 2022-28 did not issue on two of the recommendations made by the OPR relating to retail planning policy, to which Deputy O'Sullivan referred; the section 31 final direction on the Westmeath county development plan 2021-27 did not issue on one of the recommendations made by the OPR relating to renewable energy targets, specifically wind energy; and the section 31 final direction on the Laois county development plan 2022-28 did not issue on one of the recommendations made by the OPR relating to renewable energy targets, specifically wind energy.

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