Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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827. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the measures he will take to ensure planning and permitting processes for fossil fuel developments are in accordance with Ireland’s climate obligations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20811/21]

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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My role as Minister in relation to the planning system is, primarily, to provide a policy and legislative framework under which the planning authorities, An Bord Pleanála (the Board) and the Office of the Planning Regulator perform their statutory planning functions. The legislative framework chiefly comprises the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended (the Act) and the Planning and Development Regulations 2001, as amended. My Department has also issued planning guidelines under section 28 of the Act, which planning authorities and the Board are obliged to have regard to in the exercise of their planning functions. The day-to-day operation of the planning system is, however, a matter for the planning authorities, and for the Board in relation to planning appeals.

In making decisions on a planning application, a planning authority, or the Board as appropriate, must consider the proper planning and sustainable development of the area, having regard to the provisions of the development plan, any submissions or observations received from the public and the statutory consultees, and any relevant Ministerial or Government policies, including any guidelines issued by my Department.

The National Planning Framework (NPF), published together with the National Development Plan (NDP) as part of Project Ireland 2040, builds on the commitments made by the Minister for Environment, Climate and Communications in the 2015 Energy White Paper - Ireland's Transition to a Low Carbon Energy Future, and the Government in the 2017 National Mitigation Plan, to move from a fossil fuel-based electricity system to a low carbon power system. With specific reference to energy infrastructure, the NPF provides a strategic framework to link planning, development and investment to climate mitigation and adaptation, through facilitating greater energy efficiency, the development of renewable energy systems and infrastructure and a more diverse energy mix.

My colleague the Minister for Environment, Climate and Communications has responsibility for policy regarding energy and fossil fuels. I, in my role as Minister, have no statutory function with regard to energy policy.