Malcolm Byrne (Wicklow-Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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896. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government to list the local electoral areas that experienced greater than 10% population growth between the 2016 and 2022 Censuses; the actions taken by Government to ensure an adequacy in services in these fast growing areas; to provide specific examples of how Departments respond to such growth; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11641/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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A breakdown of the population growth of individual Local Electoral Areas from Census 2022 is available from Central Statistics Office through their website CSO.ie (www.cso.ie/en/statistics/population/censusofpopulation2022/). Between 2016 and 2022, Ireland's population increased by 387,274, an increase of 8.1% with 5,149,139 people in the State on 3 April 2022 (CSO Census).

Natural increase (the difference between the numbers of births and deaths in a population) made up 167,487 of the change, with the estimate for net migration at 219,787. This represents an annual average increase of almost 65,000 people.

The National Planning Framework (NPF), 2018 is the long-term, 20-year strategy for strategic planning and sustainable development of our urban and rural areas to 2040, with the core objectives of securing balanced regional development and a sustainable ‘compact growth’ approach to the form and pattern of future development.

The NPF, together with the National Development Plan 2021 (NDP), combine to form Project Ireland 2040, the overarching planning and investment framework for the social, economic and cultural development of Ireland. The National Development Plan (NDP) is the rolling capital programme linked to the National Planning Framework (NPF).

From a policy perspective, a cornerstone policy of the National Planning Framework (NPF) is the achievement of a greater regional balance in population and employment growth. The goal is to see a roughly 50:50 distribution of growth between the Eastern and Midland region, and the respective Southern, and Northern and Western Regions.

The NPF informs a spatial hierarchy of plans that cascade to regional and local levels, through the Regional Spatial and Economic Strategies (RSESs) and city and county development plans for each of the 31 local authorities. Since the adoption of the NPF in 2018, the regional strategies and the majority of local authority development plans have been reviewed and updated to align with the NPF. The Government is currently undertaking the First Revision to the NPF published in 2018, with the revision process taking account of demographic changes that have taken place since 2018 and changes in projected population growth to 2040, as well as the continued need to plan for the provision of services in areas where growth is being experienced.

The Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform is responsible for the National Development Plan, including oversight of capital expenditure across Government.

A flagship element of Project Ireland 2040 under my remit as Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, the €2 billion Urban Regeneration and Development Fund (URDF) is supporting a programme of significant transformational capital projects that will contribute to the regeneration and rejuvenation of Ireland’s five cities and other large towns, in line with the objectives of the National Planning Framework and the National Development Plan.

To date, there have been three rounds of funding provided under the URDF, with approximately €1.9 billion allocated so far. Under Call 1 and Call 2, 132 proposals comprising of some 430 individual projects, were approved for funding. URDF supported projects are now active in every local authority area in the Country.