Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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175. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government further to Parliamentary Question No. 28 of 23 June 2022, the status of the development of the promised section 28 guidelines for planning in Gaeltacht areas; the timeline for the publication of the guidelines; the date of the most recent meeting of the interdepartmental group on planning in Gaeltacht areas; if minutes are published in respect of the meetings of the interdepartmental group; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47008/22]

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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The Interdepartmental Group (comprising of officials from my Department, the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts Gaeltacht, Sport and Media and Údarás na Gaeltachta) is in place to support and accelerate the ongoing work in relation to planning in Gaeltacht areas.

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 finalising. 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 25 July 2022 in the offices of my Department and the next meeting of this group is scheduled to take place in October. More recently, a bilateral meeting was held on 26 September. In total, the Departments have met 7 times since February 2021. Minutes are usually taken at these meetings although they are not published.

In terms of the overall development of Section 28 Guidelines, it should be noted that the draft guidelines will be subject to screening for Strategic Environmental Assessment, as well as screening for the purposes of Appropriate Assessment.

Following the completion of both, the draft guidelines will be available for a focused period of public consultation. It is anticipated at this point that the draft guidelines will be published and subject to a public consultation exercise in Q4 2022.