Ciarán Ahern (Dublin South West, Labour)
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78. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government to confirm if he has received the land use review phase 2 report; the reason he has not yet released the review; when he plans to release it; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [60840/25]

Ciarán Ahern (Dublin South West, Labour)
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We are in the teeth of a climate and biodiversity crisis. An initiative the last Government took was to commission a land use review to understand how to optimise land management in this country. Has the Minister received the phase 2 report of the land use review? Why has it not been released yet? When does he plan to release it?

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy. The programme for Government, Securing Ireland’s Future, recommitted to the national land use review. The first phase, led by the EPA, was published in March 2023 and focused on evidence gathering.

The final report for phase 2 - the report the Deputy referred to - is entitled A Living Land and has been received by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Heydon; the Minister of State with responsibility for housing, Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan; and myself for consideration. I was also briefed directly on it and met Geraldine Tallon, chair of the oversight group, who carried out some excellent work. I thank her for the work she has done.

The purpose of phase 2 was to compile an evidence base and to present a framework to inform and support policymakers like us and landholders in decisions about future land use in the context of achieving Ireland’s agricultural, socioeconomic, climate and environmental objectives. As part of the review process, the citizen engagement working group proposed that there should be a focus on what can be learned from existing and emerging place-based pilots and programmes. The review highlights learning from multiple excellent examples of creative and inspiring community- and farm-level projects that are addressing and delivering on environmental and socioeconomic objectives.

Analysis of national and international best practice is a key feature of this report. While A Living Land is not an articulation of Government policy or strategy on land use, given the many economic, environmental and social considerations to be balanced when considering land use, the report will inform and support future considerations. The report also outlines the importance of Government leadership in leveraging the role of State-owned lands to achieve integrated land use objectives and the role that public bodies can play in this.

I am working with ministerial colleagues with a view to publishing the report very shortly. I expect to publish it in advance of the end of this year. It is a detailed report. There is very good work in it and practical examples that we could scale up across the country.

Ciarán Ahern (Dublin South West, Labour)
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I am glad to hear the Minister will be publishing it. His predecessor as Minister for the environment described it as the most important project in the previous programme for Government. It is vital that it be released. I am not quite sure why the Minister is holding on to it. It is a report designed to inform policymakers and I am not sure whether the brains trust the Minister has put together are the only ones who should be looking at it. I do not know why it has not gone to the Climate Change Advisory Council. It asked in September of last year for it to be completed. It could be sent to the Oireachtas committee. It could and should be scrutinised by every stakeholder.

Phase 1 of the land use review discovered that 78% of land in this country is held by private landowners. To the extent that we want to manage and plan how our land is used strategically, we have many people to bring with us. It is important they be brought into the process as soon as possible.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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I assure the Deputy I am not sitting on the report. It deserves scrutiny and that actions be taken from it. That is the work I am doing with the Minister, Deputy Heydon, and the Minister of State, Deputy O'Sullivan. When we publish it, we will be able to show some exemplar projects in this country. Geraldine Tallon and her team looked across Europe at community-based, land-based projects and examples in Ireland came to the fore. Our job is to scale this up. I would like to see this go to the Oireachtas committee. It would be a good idea for the committee to look at and scrutinise it. The phase 2 report can guide us all as policymakers with regard to real community-based, land-based initiatives we can take.

The Deputy mentioned the 78% of landholdings in private ownership. When you look within the report, you see that the survey of land ownership is quite incomplete. That is not a criticism of the work done but it is about getting the data. One would think that if 78% of land is in private ownership, then 22% is in public ownership, but it does not stack up that way. More work needs to be done on that but I do intend to publish it. It is not just up to me, by the way. We need to publish it in conjunction with the Departments of agriculture and housing. I want that done before Christmas.

Ciarán Ahern (Dublin South West, Labour)
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That is encouraging. There are many big decisions coming up that the report could inform. It is there to inform future climate action plans, some of which we have been looking at and reviewing recently at the climate committee. It strikes me it is also relevant to the nitrates derogation negotiations. It seems, based on leaks from the report, that there is talk of intensification of dairy farming in the south east of the country, where we already have huge water quality issues. We have previously discussed the issues around Lady's Island Lake this year. It is also relevant to the housing plan that will be published later this month by the Minister's colleague, the housing Minister, in terms of how and where we build, the push for councils to rezone around the country and the potential for urban sprawl where there is ad hoc building on land as farmers sell it up.

It strikes me that the sooner this report is released and worked on the better because there are a lot of big decisions at the moment that will be informed by it.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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I appreciate that the Deputy is asking the question slightly in the dark because he has seen phase 1, but he has not seen the phase 2 report. I am genuinely anxious to get this report published so people can see what is in it. The Deputy mentioned the intensification of farming in certain areas. There are options in the report and certain scenarios are laid out in it, so it is not directing us as policymakers to do A, B, C or D. It is a very significant piece of work that has been done and it will absolutely guide us going forward. I will use this opportunity to say in the context of looking at land use that while people focus on agriculture it is important to note that agricultural emissions reduced again last year. There are many people in the agricultural sector, in the farming sector, who are really changing practices very well and are leading by example. This can actually help and I would like to see some of the particular examples scaled up. I am genuinely anxious to get this published. It is not in my gift alone; we have to do it in conjunction with two sister Departments. I want to do that before Christmas. It would inform a very good debate in the Oireachtas at committee but also, I would suggest, in plenary in this Chamber.