Edward Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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13. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government following the publication of the national planning framework, if he will advise when the local authorities will receive their revised population figures; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35827/25]

Edward Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Following the publication of the national planning framework, NPF, will the Minister of State advise when the local authorities will receive their revised population figures? It is important that these guidelines are rolled out to county councils as soon as possible to allow them to amend their county development plans and local area plans. Because of the delay, I have seen a planning application for 335 houses in Blessington, County Wicklow, which is supported by the council and all elected representatives, being refused by An Bord Pleanála, because the local area plan was not up to date with the new housing targets.

John Cummins (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this matter, as he has done previously. As I do, the Deputy recognises the importance of translating what we have approved in this House in the national planning framework into getting it implemented by local authorities in their development plans as early as possible. That is why the Minister, Deputy Browne, has written to local authorities telling them to prepare and start work on their variation processes. We will be writing to local authorities very shortly about their housing growth requirements for the interim years, up until the next revision of their development plans. We are engaging with the Attorney General on this matter. We want to ensure that any of the housing growth requirements that we give to local authorities are legally robust and stand up to scrutiny. The point made by the Deputy about local authorities being able to zone a sufficient amount of land in order to deliver much-needed homes for individuals and families is a key priority of the Minister and me. We have done an extensive amount of work on this issue with our planning officials. We want to get this right in order to ensure we have sufficient zoning of land to be able to provide houses for individuals and families in Wicklow and across the country.

Edward Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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On a related matter, I want to bring up the issue of headroom. At this stage, no guidance has been issued on this. From my experience of development plans, the previous directive from the Office of the Planning Regulator was 0% headroom, which is very misguided. It is imperative that there is a considerable percentage headroom because in practice many sites will not be developed for various reasons. All landowners are not ready to be developers and in the real world, site development often has many obstacles, including costs, and may lead to planning refusals. I suggest a headroom of the order of 70%.

John Cummins (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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I can assure the Deputy that there will be headroom in the housing growth requirements. Obviously, there will be the base, in line with what is in the national planing framework, which is to provide about 54,000 homes per annum. This is a significant increase compared with the 33,000 previously. There is a requirement in the base for a significant additional zoning requirement. As we know that not every parcel of land is brought forward for development, there is a requirement for headroom in terms of that. The Minister and I have been very clear with our officials on this matter. Local authorities will have clearer understanding of what that will be very shortly.

Edward Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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From a national point of view, councils must be closely involved in the delivery of housing. Delivery must be micromanaged. These county targets must be drilled down further, with monthly figures produced by all local authorities of actual homes built versus targets and explanations given. This is the only way to deliver large numbers of houses. The Minister must then meet the CEOs of the councils and the heads of planning on a quarterly basis. This method is exactly the way a business would aim to achieve its targets. Tiered zoning refers to lower tiers with fewer services. However, in many current plans, it is tiered, even when they both have access to services. There should be no tiered zoning in these cases. If tier 1 is not developed, it often stops tier 2 from being developed.

Colm Burke (Cork North-Central, Fine Gael)
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Regarding forward planning, we need to address the concentration of development in Dublin and the greater Dublin area. We need to focus very much on places like Cork, Limerick and Galway. There is clear evidence that the growth in jobs continues in Cork. Therefore, we must develop the housing in order to accommodate those new jobs. I do not believe we are working hard enough to develop areas outside of Dublin regarding housing and the infrastructure required. In the last census, the population of Cork was 581,000. It is now more than 600,000. In a very short time, if we do it correctly, it will be more than 650,000. The industries are there. They want to stay there and grow but in order for this to happen, more housing is needed. It is extremely important that there is forward planning for areas outside of Dublin and the greater Dublin region.

John Cummins (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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I thank both Deputies. Increasing housing supply in all parts of the country is critical. The variation process in terms of the county development plans is a very important part of this. That is why such extensive work has been done in the Department to ensure that the housing growth requirements are aligned with the NPF and that they also allow for additional headroom in terms of zoning requirements for local authorities. We want additional land to be brought forward for housing across the country.

On Deputy Timmins's point, the Minister met the CEOs and directors of services for housing and planners very recently. I have met up to now about ten local authorities in my engagements around the country. We are discussing forward planning and delivery of housing units across all of the streams. We will continue to do so as a Government.