Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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338. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the steps he is taking to respond to concerns by a foreign direct investor (details supplied) that proposals to fast track planning applications for data centres are insufficient; and the status of legislative changes to ensure Ireland retains and attracts foreign direct investment in this area. [17317/18]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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I am actively progressing a number of measures under my remit that are included in the Strategic Policy Framework agreed by Government in October 2017 for the continued development of data centres in Ireland, as part of wider economic growth and balanced regional development.

The National Planning Framework, published in February of this year, includes an objective for the promotion of Ireland as a sustainable international destination for ICT infrastructure such as data centres and associated economic activities and embeds policy support for data centres into the planning policy hierarchy.

I will take the necessary steps shortly to amend the Planning and Development Act 2000 in order to classify data centres above a certain size as strategic infrastructure developments. This change will mean that applications for planning permission for larger data centres will be made direct to An Bord Pleanála, thereby streamlining the planning decision-making process. I will table the necessary legislative amendments by way of proposed amendments to the Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2016, which is currently at Seanad Committee Stage.

Following consultation with the Office of the Attorney General, I am also intending to put forward legislative proposals for streamlining judicial review of strategic infrastructure projects to Government later this year, seeking formal approval to draft the necessary legislative amendments. These proposals will aim to provide greater certainty in the timeframe for decision-making in the planning process.

I also intend to issue statutory planning guidelines under section 28 of the 2000 Act, requiring mandatory pre-application public participation in respect of windfarm development, which will serve as a pilot case to assess how best to obtain the benefits of public participation in respect of SID projects. The outcome of this pilot will feed into a general review of existing planning legislation to determine if any other changes are necessary in respect of strategic infrastructure projects in the light of experience and following on from the recommendations of the Expert Group on the Review of An Bord Pleanála.

I am confident that implementation of the range of measures set out in the Government's Strategic Policy Framework for data centres will speed up the planning consent process for future data centres, without diminishing the crucial role of public and community consultations in the consideration of individual proposals for development.