Paul Lawless (Mayo, Aontú)
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349. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if his Department has identified staffing shortages and internal bottlenecks in Mayo County Council's planning office as a cause of the 43% fall in new housing completions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [67931/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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My Department is currently working on a number of measures to increase staffing levels in the local government planning sector. In this regard, my Department is collaborating with the Local Government Management Agency on the delivery of a programme of supports to planning authorities. These supports include the provision of staffing resources and expertise to enable planning authorities to perform their functions efficiently and effectively.

In October 2023, my Department conveyed approval to the filling of an initial 100 posts, subsequently increased to 101 posts, in the local authority planning sector under the first tranche of a programme of supports for planning resources. A further approval issued in January 2025 for 56 graduate planner posts and 56 staff officer posts to support the Planning function within local authorities.

To date, under these supports, the following additional planning staff were approved for Mayo County Council:

Mayo County Council

Phase 1: 3 x Staff (Executive Planner, Executive Technician and Staff Officer)

Phase 2a: 2 x Graduate Planners

Phase 2b: 2 x Staff Officers

Consideration is currently being given to a business case received by the LGMA for a phase 3 of supports for further planning positions within the local government sector which will include a summer internship programme in 2026. This business case is being examined by the Department in light of the funding allocations for 2026. Engagement is ongoing with the LGMA with regard to this business case.

On 15 October 2024, my Department published a Ministerial Action Plan on Planning Resources to respond to capacity challenges in the planning sector. This Action Plan provides a detailed roadmap to increase the pool of planning and related expertise needed to ensure a planning system fit for future needs. It sets out 14 high-level actions that provide a coordinated pathway to ensure a sustainable pipeline of planning and related expertise into the future, addressing the areas of education, recruitment and retention, as well as measures to encourage greater innovation and efficiency.

Funding was secured in Budget 2025 to support delivery of the Action Plan and a Steering Group was established to coordinate and oversee the development of this Action Plan. This group remains in place to oversee the implementation and ongoing review of the Action Plan. Five Working Groups, the members of which are key stakeholders, have been established to progress grouped actions in the areas of education, national recruitment, international recruitment, system reform and innovation and efficiency. All of these working groups have met a number of times and the work of the groups is progressing well.

The occupation of town planner has now been added to the Critical Skills Occupation List (Action 9 of the Ministerial Action Plan) which will allow eligible non-EEA professionals from outside of Europe to now benefit from streamlined employment permit processes, making it easier for Irish employers to recruit and retain international talent in this vital sector. This addition is a decisive step to addressing planning resource shortages and reinforcing the capacity of our planning system to help meet current and future needs. A graduate planner recruitment campaign (Action 4 of the Ministerial Action Plan) was launched on 13 May 2025 to attract graduate planners into Ireland’s Local Authorities, which was supported by my Department.

A copy of the Action Plan can be accessed on my Department’s website at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/publication/51194-ministerial-action-plan-on-planning-resources-october-2024/.

It should be noted, that under section 159 of the Local Government Act 2001, each Chief Executive is responsible for the staffing and organisational arrangements necessary for carrying out the functions of the local authority for which he/she is responsible. It is a matter for each local authority to determine its own spending priorities, including taking account of payroll costs in the context of the annual budgetary process, having regard to both locally identified needs and available resources.