Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South-West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is great to see this issue being raised in such a specific way and the urgency across both Houses, which is necessary. I will try my best to give the Senator updated timelines. Perhaps these will not be exact dates, but I hope to shed some light on the timelines he is seeking.

The national planning framework 2018 is the 20-year strategy for strategic planning and sustainable development of our urban and rural areas to 2040 with the core objectives of securing balanced regional development and a sustainable approach to the form and pattern of future development. Since the NPF was first published in 2018, the regional strategies and local authority development plans have largely been updated to reflect the objectives of the NPF. In 2023, the Government commenced the process of revising the NPF to take into account changes that had occurred in the intervening years. The finalisation of the approval process for the revised NPF plays a key role in delivering on our broader objectives across Government, in particular, the scaling up of housing supply over the coming years.

The draft revised NPF was subject to public consultation between July and September 2024, with 272 submissions received. A schedule of amendments to the draft was considered and agreed by the previous Government on 5 November. This has allowed for the completion of the environmental assessments that are required by EU law. Subject to Government approval - I hope this goes some way towards answering the Senator's question - and following a positive resolution of both Houses of the Oireachtas, given that it has to go through both Houses, it is possible to conclude the revision process in the coming weeks and for the final revised NPF to be published.

The final revised NPF will provide the basis for the review and updating of regional spatial and economic strategies and local authority development plans to reflect matters such as updated housing figures, projected jobs growth and renewable energy capacity allocations, including through the zoning of land for residential, employment and a range of other purposes.

The draft revised NPF, as agreed by the Government on 5 November, sets out a need to plan for the delivery of approximately 50,000 additional housing units per annum nationally to 2040.Decisions relating to the location and quantum of lands zoned for housing within each local authority development plan are for the elected members of each local authority, having regard to the provisions of the finalised revised NPF and relevant guidelines issued, including any further policy direction provided by the Minister.

The key next step, further to the finalisation of the NPF revision, is to address, through the issuing of further policy direction by the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, the spatial distribution of the housing requirement by local authority area through the provision of updated planned housing requirements on a local authority by local authority basis. This will also ensure more land is zoned than will actually be required to ensure competition and choice in the land market. It will result in the need to plan for more housing delivery than the capacity currently available within development plans across the country, including the scope for strategic planning for transport-orientated development in and around Ireland’s five cities to support the delivery of new sustainable communities at brownfield and greenfield locations along existing or planned high-capacity public transport corridors.

The requirement on a local authority basis will be based on a balanced methodology that factors in the level of housing demand arising, the performance in terms of recent housing delivery and the capacity, while ensuring adherence to the policy parameters of the NPF strategy. Work on this stage is under way and is based on the current revised draft NPF housing figures.