Ann Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for raising this important matter. I would like to assure him that I understand the pressures faced by those in rural Ireland regarding this issue. I thank the Senator for acknowledging that road safety is paramount.

The decision as to whether to grant planning permission in any particular case is a matter for the relevant planning authority, to which the Senator has referred, in the first instance, and for An Bord Pleanála in the event of an appeal. In making decisions on planning applications, planning authorities and the board must consider the proper planning and sustainable development of the area, having regard to the provisions of their development plan, any submissions or observations received and relevant ministerial or Government policies, including current guidelines issued by my Department under section 28 of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended.

My Department's guidelines for planning authorities on spatial planning and national roads 2012 are aimed at ensuring that roads planning and policy and development planning and management processes are appropriately and effectively aligned and encouraging a collaborative approach and early engagement between planning authorities and the National Roads Authority so that transport and land use planning considerations are taken into account at the early stages of development plan and development management processes. This is to ensure that future development at locations on, or in the vicinity of, national roads is guided to the most suitable location and that work on Ireland's national roads network is planned for and managed in a complementary and integrated manner.

Section 2.6 of the guidelines outlines that, in exceptional circumstances with regard to the normal limitations on the provision of access for new developments to national routes, planning authorities may identify stretches of national roads where a less restrictive approach may be applied, but only as part of the process of reviewing or varying the relevant development plan and having consulted and had regard to the advice of the NRA in line with the approach set out in the guidelines. The guidelines were issued under section 28 of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, and planning authorities and An Bord Pleanála are required to have regard to them in the performance of their functions.

It is, therefore, a matter for planning authorities to consider the implementation of section 2.6 of the guidelines in respect of sections of relevant national roads and in the context of its statutory development plan. I continue to keep the implementation of the guidelines under review.