John Cummins (Waterford, Fine Gael)

It is great to be in the Seanad this evening. I spent four and half good years here as a Member, so it is always a pleasure to be back in the Seanad.

I welcome the opportunity to discuss and seek approval for the final draft revised national planning framework, which was approved by Government on 8 April 2025. The finalisation of the approval process for the revised framework plays a key role in delivering on our broader objectives across Government. It will allow the significant policy changes and other factors that have taken place since 2018 to be integrated into the planning system.

I will give a brief overview of the revision process, which began formally on 20 June 2023, when Government gave approval to commence the process of undertaking the first revision of the national planning framework in accordance with the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended. The revision process has provided for wide-ranging consultation and engagement with stakeholders and the public. It included the reconvening of the planning advisory forum and the establishment of an expert group, a cross-party departmental group and an environmental assessment technical steering group.

The draft first revision to the NPF and the associated environmental assessments were published in July 2024 and a national public consultation ran from 10 July to 12 September 2024. An information campaign, including broadcast, print digital and social media, also ran to raise awareness of the consultation process and to encourage the public to engage with the draft first revision. A total of 272 submissions were received during the draft consultation stage.

On 5 November 2024, Government agreed to progress and publish a draft schedule of amendments to the first revision of the NPF arising from the public consultation. On 8 April 2025, Government approved a final draft revised NPF following the conclusion of the environmental assessments.One of the key drivers of the revision process related to the need to reflect updated population and housing projections further to census 2022 and subsequent demographic changes. The revised NPF strategy sets out the need to plan for a projected population of 6.1 million people in Ireland by 2040 under the baseline scenario provided by the ESRI and a possible requirement to plan for a high migration scenario of 6.3 million by 2040.

Taking into account pent-up demand, the strategy sets out a need to plan for the delivery of approximately 50,000 additional housing units per annum nationally to 2040. This will result in the need to plan for more housing delivery than the capacity currently available within development plans across the country.

The strategy sets out the spatial planning policy approach to accommodating projected population growth to 2040 in a manner that contributes to delivering balanced regional development with an even split of growth between the eastern and midland region and the southern, northern and western regions combined, based on a city-focused and compact growth pattern of development that will reverse the patterns of sprawl that have been a feature over recent decades. In terms of identifying locations for further growth and housing development at scale through transport-orientated development - a new element of the strategy - it is critical that planning for these opportunities commences immediately and is aligned with phased infrastructure investment.

Another critical element of this revision is the inclusion of new policies regarding renewable energy development, in particular, the inclusion of regional renewable electricity capacity allocations. This is to facilitate the accelerated roll-out and delivery of renewable electricity infrastructure for onshore wind and solar generation development in addition to the supporting grid development intended to support the achievement of the national targets set out in the climate action plan. The spatial planning system can play a key role in mitigating against climate change through the reduction of carbon emissions in sectors such as electricity and transport through the combined integration of land use and transport planning to support the use of public transport, cycling and walking. Areas of focus such as district heating, biomethane and the circular economy are also flagged for particular attention. The NPF revision will ensure that our planning system can adequately reflect these important Government objectives.

The revised NPF also acknowledges the clear link between climate action and the potential for investment generation and employment, including in connection with the offshore wind industry and green technology. The NPF highlights a need to plan for jobs and employment at locations that are integrated with the planned distribution of population and aligned to the development of the green economy and smart specialisation strategies that allow all regions to focus on their economic strengths.

The final draft revised NPF continues to support the overall development of urban and rural areas and deliver strengthened and diversified rural communities consistent with Government policy. Regarding supports for rural towns and villages, the draft revised NPF has been updated to take account of the town centre first policy approach and other Government initiatives such as the rural and urban regeneration funds, croí cónaithe and the continuation of the village renewal scheme and the vacant homes action plan.

Regarding the rural economy, the circular bio-economy, rural enterprise, the agrifood sector and diversification are strongly supported within the plan. The development of tourism and other industries suited to rural areas is addressed throughout the document aligned with the Department of Rural and Community Development's Our Rural Future policy, which is the Government's blueprint for rural development. Single rural one-off housing will also continue to be supported in line with programme for Government commitments. The final draft revised NPF continues to reflect the commitment to achieve the objectives set out in the 20-year Strategy for the Irish Language 2010 to 2030 and retains the policy support for the implementation of language plans in Gaeltacht language planning areas, Gaeltacht service towns and Irish language networks.

Approval for the NPF revision will ensure that the most up-to-date policy position becomes formally embedded as national planning policy with which the regional strategies and local-level plans are required to be consistent. The revised NPF will provide the basis for the review and updating of regional 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 plan-led approach to development further enhanced under the Planning and Development Act 2024 will continue to provide the basis for the identification and prioritisation of infrastructure delivery. The enhanced delivery of key infrastructure projects is a core objective of Government and a particular focus has already been placed on identifying blockages and ensuring they can be removed. In this regard, priority actions from the programme for Government are being progressed, including the establishment of the new housing activation office. This office will enable infrastructure to support public and private housing development while providing solutions to infrastructure blockages. It will draw on a new towns and cities infrastructure investment fund established to support strategic investment in housing-orientated infrastructure.

Noting the urgency associated with the scaling up of housing delivery, the Minister, Deputy Browne, and I have already signalled the intention to issue a policy direction to local authorities following finalisation of the revision process to enable rapid implementation of the updated planned housing requirements, by local authority area, into the current development plans. This will give a clear direction to be followed by planning authorities in updating their plans allowing for all stakeholders in the planning system to have clarity on the location and scale of development proposed to meet our housing need across the country. I look forward to hearing the contributions of Senators this evening as we discuss a critical piece of policy, namely, the NPF and its revision.