Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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453. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will detail the directions given by his Department to local authorities whereby it is guaranteed that regular communication takes place between each local government planning department and the forward planning unit within the Department of Education to meet developing needs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9693/25]

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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454. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will outline directions given by his Department to the HSE in respect of engagement with each planning authority having regard to the need to monitor adequate medical services in local areas, including, for example, GP, dental and community care services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9694/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 453 and 454 together.

Stakeholder engagement plays a key role in the planning system, enabling planning authorities to have due regard to the policies of government departments and state agencies, thereby ensuring effective decision-making at local level that is consistent with government policy and national and regional policy objectives.

Under sections 11, 12 and 13 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 (as amended), planning authorities are required to notify prescribed authorities when reviewing or varying their development plans. Under Article 13 of the Planning and Development Regulations 2001 a wide range of government departments and state agencies stand prescribed for this purpose, including the Department of Education and the Health Service Executive. This statutory requirement to notify the prescribed authorities at specific stages of the plan-making process enables providers of public infrastructure and services, including the Department of Education and the HSE, to contribute to the local authority plan-making process from an early stage and ensure their inputs inform the remainder of the process. Such engagement also has the secondary function of allowing relevant public bodies to take account of the planned quantum and distribution of proposed development in specified areas over a medium-term horizon. This engagement is also a requirement of section 169(1) (a) of the 2000 Act in the making of a planning scheme for a Strategic Development Zone.

A similar approach is reflected in the development management process through Article 28 of the 2001 Planning and Development Regulations, such that when a planning authority receives a planning application that interacts with the statutory remit of a prescribed body, that application is required to be referred to the prescribed body in question in order to enable it to make a submission or observation to the planning authority.

Additional guidance to planning authorities on engagement with prescribed authorities is also provided in the form of Ministerial guidelines issued under section 28 of the 2000 Act, including but not limited to, the Development Plans Guidelines for Planning Authorities (2022), and Development Management Guidelines for Planning Authorities (2007).

Public bodies have certain statutory obligations to cooperate with planning authorities in the performance of their functions. Under section 11(3)(c) of the 2000 Act a planning authority is required to take whatever measures it considers necessary to consult with the providers of energy, telecommunications, transport and any other relevant infrastructure and providers of education, health, policing and other services in order to ascertain any long-term plans for the provision of the infrastructure and services and the providers of such infrastructure and services are required to furnish the necessary information to the planning authority.

Separately, under section 22A(2) of the 2000 Act, public bodies are statutorily required to support the implementation of the Regional Spatial and Economic Strategies, which in many instances will involve transposing objectives of local authority development plans.

I am satisfied that the existing statutory engagement processes between planning authorities and prescribed authorities are operating effectively and I can advise that it is intended that both of the bodies referred to in the questions shall retain their prescribed status in Regulations intended to be made under the Planning and Development Act 2024 after the relevant provisions of that Act are formally commenced.

My colleagues, the Minister for Education and the Minister for Health, may be in a position to provide further information on specific engagement undertaken with planning authorities by their Departments and/or agencies under their respective remits.