John Cummins (Waterford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to come before the House to discuss and seek approval for the final draft revised national planning framework, which was approved by Government on 8 April 2025. As already outlined by my colleague the Minister, the approval process for the finalisation of the revised national planning framework plays a key role in delivering on our broader objectives across Government and will allow the significant policy changes that have taken place and other factors that have come into play since 2018 to be integrated into the planning system.

I wish to provide an overview of the some of the key policy responses that have been incorporated into this revised NPF to ensure there is a robust strategy and a comprehensive national plan in place to guide and inform Ireland's future growth and development for many years to come. The revised NPF reaffirms the plan-led approach that is now firmly enshrined in legislation through the Planning and Development Act 2024, implemented at a regional and local level through our three regional assemblies and 31 local authorities. The importance of this plan-led approach cannot be underestimated as it aligns strategic planning policy from national level through to regional and local levels, giving effect to real sustainable outcomes for our regions, our cities and our communities, both urban and rural.

In 2018, the NPF recognised that continued investment in Dublin and the east coast is critical to support the future growth of Dublin as an international city of scale in the national interest but that this needs to be supported by a more balanced distribution of growth across all of Ireland's regions. The strategy recognises that a business-as-usual approach will not make the most effective and sustainable use of national and regional assets and resources. In contrast, more balanced and effective regional growth will harness the attractiveness and assets of all regions and places to a greater extent than it has to date.

The cornerstone policy of both the existing NPF and the revised version is the achievement of a greater regional balance in future population and employment growth. The goal is to see a roughly 50-50 distribution of growth between the eastern and midlands region and the southern, northern and western regions combined, based on a city-focused and compact growth pattern of development that will reverse the pattern of sprawl that has been a feature of recent decades. The ongoing shift to a more regionally balanced growth, supported by urban centres of scale, will be important in ensuring effective regional development and in supporting competitiveness, economic prosperity and environmental sustainability.

A number of specific projects to support better balanced regional development for the regions are referred to in the revised NPF, with such projects required to be advanced to delivery through the national development plan. The revision also includes objectives to improve interurban transport infrastructure, for example, through supporting the Atlantic corridor as part of the wider trans-European transport network, which link Ireland to the passenger and freight transport networks in continental Europe, in addition to examining recommendations in the All-Island Strategic Rail Review and key road projects that are essential for improving regional and interurban connectivity.

The compact growth policy approach of the revised NPF specifically addresses the need for a more sustainable form of development in Ireland's cities and towns. Its introduction was in response to an identified need to counter the trend of urban sprawl, to support the targeted delivery of infrastructure services and to promote cities and towns to be self-sustaining and viable places to live and work in. City-based population and employment growth is an important target of the NPF. The strategy sets a target of half of future population and employment growth to be focused in the existing five cities and their suburbs as a means of ensuring that cities deliver as accessible centres of scale. The proportion of national population growth achieved in 2022 in the five cities was 32% of overall growth. In order to achieve the overall increase in city-based population growth, the NPF sets out ambitious growth targets to enable the four cities of Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford to grow by at least 50% each to 2040.

To support the achievement of these targets, a new element of the NPF strategy included in this revision results from the possible requirement to plan for population growth that would exceed the baseline of 6.1 million set out by the ESRI in line with the high migration scenario the Minister, Deputy Browne, referred to of 6.3 million, provided in the same report. This is to be undertaken and delivered in line with longer term strategic planning for transport-orientated development in Ireland's five cities to support the delivery of new sustainable communities at brownfield and greenfield locations along existing or planned high-capacity public transport corridors. This will allow planning authorities to identify areas with significant potential for development within development plans and thereby provide medium- to longer term certainty around the status of those lands.

As regards identifying locations for future growth and housing development at scale, it is critical that planning for these opportunities is aligned with the phased infrastructure investment that will follow. Greater clarity is provided for as part of the revised NPF as to what the definition of a built-up area is, and there is a signalling to the monitoring system that will track implementation of the targets in a consistent way for all major settlements. The alignment of the NPF with the national development plan through Project Ireland 2040 governance provides a solid foundation for sustained growth and investment.

Policy coherence and co-ordination of investment programmes have been identified as critical elements for the successful implementation of the NPF strategy. The programme for Government has emphasised the delivery of essential infrastructure as a key driver in attracting and retaining investment in Ireland, growing our economy, fostering regional development and delivering on our housing targets, and achieving our ambitious climate goals. Given the strategic role of the NPF, any reference to specific projects or enablers is restricted to those that are of a strategic nature such as transport, water and grid infrastructure projects that are of a national or regional significance. It is also important to note that the NPF provides the spatial policy framework but in itself does not directly provide for investment but, rather, is aligned with the national development plan.

There are metropolitan area strategic plans for all of our five cities, and a MASP has been prepared as part of the three regional spatial and economic strategies for each of the regions. The MASPs set out a framework to guide development in the wider city region. The revised NPF indicates that, as part of phasing in the transition to achieving urban consolidation and brownfield targets, a proportion of up to 20% of the phased population growth targeted in the principal city and suburban area could potentially be accommodated in the wider metropolitan area - in other words, outside of the city and suburbs or the contiguous zoned area. This can be in addition to the growth identified for the metropolitan area itself.

As regards the potential for improved institutional arrangements to deliver on the NPF strategy, a new national policy objective has been included to highlight the commitment to reviewing reforms that may be necessary in terms of the governance of metropolitan area strategic plans, in recognition of the important role they will play going forward.

I reiterate the importance of this body of work and thank everybody who has engaged in the process recently, including the Oireachtas joint committee, of which I was a member prior to being elected to Dáil Éireann. I look forward to hearing the contributions of Deputies.

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