Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)

Today, the Minister of State is presenting the national planning framework and it is the blueprint for how the State will manage strategic planning and sustainable development out to 2040. It is essential that the framework deals strategically and systematically with the major issues of our time: housing, climate change, energy security and the prosperity of everyone living on the island. These issues can only be dealt with on an all-island basis. As we prepare for constitutional change and a referendum on Irish unity, there is a responsibility on Government and all agencies to ensure the plans they publish are future-proofed. There is probably no more important document than the national planning framework to ensure we prepare in a cohesive and planned way to create a better future for all living on the island and for future generations.

The section "Working with Our Neighbours" is not adequate in that context. As a west of Ireland representative, I believe the framework is skewed in favour of development in Dublin and the eastern region. This is not good for the west and north west - it is not good for Dublin and the east either. Unless we see regional development as an answer to national challenges, we are missing opportunities and ingraining inequality. CSO statistics show the eastern and midland region has grown by 55%, while the northern and western region has grown by only 15%. Residential unit commencement data from the Department of housing and collated by the Northern and Western Regional Assembly is even more stark. In 2024, 63% of commencements were in the eastern and midland region, while only 10% were in the north and western region. The assertion in the national planning framework that the population in the eastern and midlands region will grow at twice the rate of the northern and western region combined with the southern region sets a flawed narrative for everything else in the plan. How will a 50-50 growth strategy tackle the imbalance that currently exists and the stagnation of growth in the west and north west? The Northern and Western Regional Assembly has also reported that this part of the country is in the bottom 20 EU regions for transport infrastructure, with notable underinvestment also evident in the region's higher education, research, water, rail, road network and grid.

Unfortunately, this plan in its current form fails to meet those needs. On that basis, we will not be able to support it in this form.

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