Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Boyhan for raising the matter. I could not agree more that it is time to publish the guidelines. The last set was published in 2005 and it is now 2023, 18 years later. Following the passage through these Houses of the national planning framework and the legislation that went with it in 2018, it is crucial that the guidelines be published, and published shortly. They were due to be published at the end of last year but it was necessary to conduct an additional environmental assessment. They are to be published in quarter 1, I believe, or immediately thereafter.

The Senator is quite right that the updated guidelines will expand on the high-level spatial planning policy of the national planning framework, in particular on national policy objective 19, NPO 19, which relates to rural housing. This objective makes a clear policy distinction between rural areas under urban influence, that is, areas within the commuter catchment of cities, towns and centres of employment, and rural areas where population levels may be low or declining. NPO 19 is also aligned with the established approach whereby considerations of social or economic need are to be applied by planning authorities in rural areas under urban influence.

The proposed draft rural housing guidelines will set out relevant planning criteria to be applied in local authority development plans for rural housing, based on the high-level policy framework set by the national planning framework. The guidelines will continue to allow county development plans to provide for housing in the countryside based on the considerations detailed in NPO 19 of the national planning framework, and will also highlight the need to manage development in certain areas, such as the areas around cities and larger towns and environmentally sensitive areas.

Since the publication in 2005 of the current guidelines, which continue to have effect, there have been important changes to our planning system. Most notably, our obligations under European directives and international agreements relating to the management and protection of the environment and our climate have become more central to the operation of the planning system. The draft guidelines need to address all these complex environmental issues while also providing a framework for the sustainable management of housing in rural areas.

The last set of guidelines was published in 2005. It is now 2023, 18 years later. If we were to fast-forward 18 years, to 2041, we would expect to see a very different landscape again. I hope this has been considered in the preparation of the guidelines, along with the time at which they might next be reviewed. I certainly hope that in 2041 we will be looking at floating wind farms along the west coast, for example. There is a need to consider the planning implications of this and the additional housing that will be needed for the technicians with the 12-month-per-year jobs needed to support sustainable energy and floating terminals off the west coast. I hope the guidelines will consider this sort of vision or planning because I hope they relate to the future we all look forward to and agree we need. There will be very many benefits right along the west coast from the type of development envisaged.

I am told by the Department that the guidelines are at an advanced stage of drafting and that the strategic environmental assessment and appropriate assessment relating to the impact of the proposed guidelines on the environment, as required by EU legislation, are nearing finalisation.

It is intended to have the draft guidelines published for public consultation as soon as may be. The guidelines will subsequently be finalised, taking into account the inputs in the consultation process. I hope they will support more consistent and updated policies on rural housing within county development plans and across local authority areas, in line with the objectives of the national planning framework. I hope they are future-looking.