Conor Sheehan (Limerick City, Labour)

The national planning framework is a critical piece of work that underpins everything in regional planning, development plans and local area plans. It is vital we get this right, as this document goes to the very essence of how we do planning, development and infrastructure in this country. This plan should be an opportunity to set out and better reflect the need for a more balanced distribution of economic activity and population growth to close the gap between Dublin and the regional cities. The NPF should also set out a baseline for our ambition and not act as a ceiling on future development. We need more compact, low-carbon and balanced regional development.

The NPF refers to transport-orientated development. It must be clearer in the document that this refers primarily to rail-oriented development. Limerick and Waterford are ripe for transit-oriented development. Investment in the rail network is the most efficient, effective and climate-resilient way to move masses of people. The spine of our rail network should underpin the NPF, particularly in Limerick. This would allow us to maximise the benefits of increased compact growth, which is vital in solving the housing crisis and meeting our transport goals.

Regional cities outside of Dublin cannot continue to suffer as Dublin expands at an unsustainable pace, with infrastructure in the Dublin region in particular unable to cope. Cities outside of Dublin must be allowed more ambitious growth targets to achieve their potential to become regional cities of scale, particularly my city of Limerick. Limerick has potential for growth in excess of 60%, with existing third level institutions, road and rail infrastructure and access to a deep-sea port and international airport. The stated aimed of Project Ireland 2040 is to develop regional towns and cities as viable urban centres of scale that can act as alternatives and a counterbalance to the continued growth of Dublin and its surrounding region. Project Ireland 2040 envisages that the population of Limerick city and its suburbs will grow by between 50% and 60% by 2040. Limerick has huge potential to develop as a regional city of scale and become a counterpull to a sprawling Dublin metropolis. This potential cannot be realised unless growth targets in the plan are revised upwards for cities outside of Dublin. We need stronger and more ambitious targets for compact growth. Alternative targets are needed, such as densification targets for urban areas, including mature suburbs.

The NPF also needs to be stronger on the role of regional airports, in particular Shannon Airport, the biggest and most underutilised infrastructure in the State. It has the longest runway in Ireland and the capacity to take double the number of passengers it currently takes. At a time when Dublin Airport takes nearly 91% of air traffic into the State, the role of Shannon Airport and the Shannon campus in balancing national economic growth must be better recognised and reflected in this plan.

I call for the boundary of Waterford map to be expanded to include Waterford Airport, as Deputy Conor D. McGuinness referenced, and Tramore. Similar has been done in Cork and Limerick. From talking to my colleagues down there, there is a strong feeling that Waterford was treated differently when the NPF was first done.

The Labour Party believes the national planning framework must better reflect our climate goals and the need to reduce emissions from fossil fuels by 51% by 2030. I am concerned about the aspects of the NPF that pertain to energy, particularly LNG, after the recent policy reversal by the Government. My colleague, Senator Cosgrove, tabled an amendment yesterday concerning the national energy policy referred to on page 132 of the framework, which insists that all energy policy relating to planning should be built on the pillars of sustainability, security of supply and competitiveness. We support these goals and want to work with the Government to achieve a just transition. The target to cut greenhouse emissions by 51% by 2030 will be very difficult to achieve as is, with the SEAI report telling us that nearly 86% of our energy still comes from fossil fuels. We have five years to get this down to 51%. This will become completely impossible if the development of LNG infrastructure is allowed. This flies in the face of all three pillars of the national energy policy. I have other concerns that need to be addressed.

Colleagues from rural constituencies have contacted me about their concerns regarding the impact of the NPF on rural Ireland. There is no acknowledgement in the framework of the ongoing disaster of the defective blocks scandal in Donegal. Planning is required to restore the homes of thousands of people. It is not just in Donegal; there are people in my constituency. The shortage of housing in Gaeltacht areas is being made worse by the problem of holiday homes and short-terms lets. Senator Cosgrove yesterday spoke in the Seanad about the role of Sligo as a regional city. Sligo does not receive the correct level of support to grow and develop in a sustainable manner. My colleague, Deputy Wall, has told me Kildare County Council does not yet have exact figures on the population targets under the revised NPF broken down by county. There is no doubt that strategic plan-led development is needed regarding population growth. The plan must identify locations that have or are about to have the correct infrastructure to support population increases. We cannot see the situation at the moment, particularly in rural Ireland, where homes receive permission without the proper basic infrastructure in place such as transport, schools and other necessary infrastructure.

They must be front-loaded. I welcome that the Minister referenced rural Ireland. Too many of our rural communities are in trouble because of constraints on current county development plans. Many rural locations have the necessary infrastructure such as schools, sporting facilities and shops to sustain a greater population than they currently have. Will the Minister confirm when each local authority will receive the exact population and growth patterns the NPF mentions? A lot of my colleagues are waiting on these figures, as are local authorities, because they will need to re-examine their county development plans and progress the development of towns and villages in their local authority areas. My colleague, Councillor Thomas Phelan, in Dungarvan contacted me. He is concerned about what the revised NPF will mean for towns such as Dungarvan that have not yet done their local area plans due to the NTA insisting on local transport plans. They need to know these figures in case they have to rezone land or reopen a county or town development plan. These towns and villages are losing businesses and essential services.

Vacancy and dereliction in a lot of these areas is on the rise.

To go back to more urban areas, there is also concern about a lack of evidence-based planning. The concern is that this will lead to more land being speculated on and hoarded by a few developers and the lessons of the planning tribunals being forgotten. What we know for sure is that the revised NPF will lead to an increased supply of zoned development land but the Government itself does not know at the moment how much land is already zoned for residential development.

There is also a concern, as others have outlined, about the housing targets. Many county development plans were done relatively recently and there was an awful lot of back and forth with the OPR. The OPR came back to many local authorities, my own included, and told them that they were attempting to zone too much land. Those local authorities are now required to reopen their county development plans and re-examine them. Where does this leave the OPR in terms of its credibility and independence if councils reopen their development plans and zone more land?

While we welcome the fact that we finally have the revised document, the consultation process was far too slow over the summer. We believe that this is a weak document and that there are a number of key flaws in it. This should have come before the Oireachtas for scrutiny. It should have come before the committee and we should have had the opportunity to go through it in granular detail, which is what my colleagues in the Labour Party and I believe is necessary. That is why, at this stage, we cannot support this document.

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