Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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28. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the status of the promised guidelines on planning matters in the Gaeltacht; the status of the working group established to examine planning policy in the Gaeltacht; the membership of the group; the terms of reference of the group; the dates of all meetings of the group to date; when the next meeting is scheduled for; if the group will produce a final report; the expected timeline for same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33208/22]

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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My Department convened a working group in May 2021 of last year to examine various aspects of the planning process in all Gaeltacht areas.

Membership of this group is made up of representatives from the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Údarás na Gaeltachta and the eight relevant local authorities.

The Group’s Terms of Reference specify that the Group shall:

- Provide a forum for the discussion of identified issues related to the operation of the planning system within Gaeltacht areas. This shall initially focus on:

1. Examining the system  of  referrals  of  planning  applications  for development, received by the local authorities, to the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts Gaeltacht, Sport and Media and Údarás na Gaeltachta for comment;

2. The use of agreed and consistent language standards in the planning process

- The Group shall also formulate proposals to address items (i) and (ii) above in order to ensure the more effective and efficient operation of the development management process.

- Finally, it also states that it shall consider additional further issues, as may be identified, to be examined by the Group subsequent to the above, by agreement between the Group members.

In conjunction with the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts Gaeltacht, Sport and Media and Údarás na Gaeltachta, my Department officials intend to reconvene this group in the near future. While the Terms of Reference do not envisage the publication of a report or conclusion of the work by a specific timeline, proposals from this working group will be presented to the Minister upon the conclusion of its work.

I would also like to advise that to support and accelerate this work, a separate Interdepartmental Group is in place with officials from my Department engaging with the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts Gaeltacht, Sport and Media and Údarás na Gaeltachta in relation to planning in Gaeltacht areas as it relates to the implementation of the above provisions in particular.

One of the key aims of this interdepartmental group is to ensure that procedures and systems will be tailored, as appropriate to facilitate an effective and consistent approach by the relevant local authorities in managing planning related issues in Gaeltacht areas.

The interdepartmental group has been examining how current practices in the application of these provisions could be strengthened in the overall interest of the Irish language in the Gaeltacht and in the interests of proper planning and sustainable development, underpinned by a policy which the Department Tourism, Culture, Arts Gaeltacht, Sport and Media is current developing. It is intended that this policy will provide the clarity and guidance needed in order to integrate the required changes to effect greater consistency and fairness in the planning system as well as providing assistance to the Local Authorities concerned. This policy is critical to the development of the Section 28 Guidelines for planning in Gaeltacht Areas which my Department will be commencing later this year. 

The most recent meeting of the interdepartmental group was held on 24^thMay 2022 in the offices of  the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts Gaeltacht, Sport and Media in Na Forbacha. In total, the Departments have met 6 times since February 2021.