John Cummins (Waterford, Fine Gael)

I thank Senator Ryan for raising this important matter and giving me an opportunity to update the House on it. The national planning framework, NPF, as revised in April, retains national policy objective, NPO, 24 "to support the sustainable development of rural areas". This NPO makes a clear policy distinction between rural areas under urban influence, that is, those areas within the commuter catchments of cities, towns and centres of employment, where there is a need to facilitate rural housing on the basis of demonstrable economic or social need, on the one hand, and rural areas where population levels may be low or declining and rural housing may be facilitated on the basis of siting and design, on the other.

In order to give further effect to the policies and objectives of the revised NPF, and to provide clarity and consistency - both of which are critically important - within the planning system in the context of how considerations relating to rural housing should be addressed in both development plans and decisions on planning applications, the Government's new housing action plan, Delivering Homes, Building Communities 2025-2030, contains a commitment to publish a national planning statement in respect of rural housing in the latter half of 2026.The Senator cited ribbon development in her opening contribution. It is true to say that ribbon development is treated differently in development plans across the country. In the new NPO, we need to see that clarity and consistency of approach, whether it is Donegal, Waterford, Limerick or Dublin.

The national planning statement will replace the current rural housing planning guidelines which date from 2005 and will continue to enable development plans to provide for housing in rural areas. This will be balanced with the need to manage development in certain areas, including areas around cities and larger towns and environmentally sensitive areas.

The development of this new national planning statement is a priority for Government, recognising that, nationally, rural housing continues to be an important component of overall new housing delivery. The vast majority of one-off houses - well in excess of 90% - are built in rural settings. I highlight that, notwithstanding the need for updated rural housing guidance to address issues relating to consistency of policy application, planning permission has been granted for almost 6,000 one-off houses, on average, every year since 2020. One-off houses have comprised 20% of housing completions over the past five years, with an average of 5,200 completed per annum.

Furthermore, my Department is a key participant in the development of the new Our Rural Future policy, which will take effect from 2026. My Department also regularly engages with the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht on matters relating to rural areas. In addition, my Department is focused on supporting the provision of the necessary infrastructure to enable housing development across the country, not least in the area of developer-provided infrastructure, on which a memo went to Cabinet a couple of weeks ago, to be able to facilitate development in those smaller population settlements that have not been able to develop over the last number of years.