Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 8 July 2025
543. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage further to Parliamentary Question No. 495 of 1 April 2025, the number of graduate planner posts and staff officer posts in the first tranche of supports. [37842/25]
View answer544. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage further to Parliamentary Question No. 495 of 1 April 2025, the job titles that the graduate planners from the first tranche of supports took in Meath County Council planning department. [37843/25]
View answer545. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage further to Parliamentary Question No. 495 of 1 April 2025, if the supports from him increased capacity in the planning department. [37844/25]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 543 to 545, inclusive, together.
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.
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.
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/
In October 2023, my Department conveyed approval to the filling of an initial 100 additional posts, subsequently increased to 101 posts, in the local authority planning sector under the first tranche of a programme of supports for planning resources. Staff allocated under the first tranche are set out in table below.
|
Role |
Total Staff |
|
Administrative Officer |
5 |
|
Assistant Planner |
10 |
|
Assistant Staff Officer |
2 |
|
Clerical Officer |
1 |
|
Conservation Officer |
1 |
|
Executive Engineer |
5 |
|
Executive Planner |
33 |
|
Executive Technician |
6 |
|
Senior Engineer |
1 |
|
Senior Executive Engineer |
3 |
|
Senior Executive Officer |
2 |
|
Senior Executive Planner |
14 |
|
Senior Planner |
3 |
|
Senior Staff Officer |
5 |
|
Staff Officer |
6 |
|
Technician |
3 |
|
Total: |
100 |
|
Additional Post Approved |
|
|
Clerical Officer |
1 |
|
Total: |
101 |
Under the second tranche, further approval issued in January 2025 for 112 additional posts - 56 graduate planner posts and 56 staff officer posts - to support the Planning function within local authorities.
Under the second tranche, Meath County Council were allocated 2 Graduate Planners (Phase 2a) and 2 Staff Officers (Phase 2b).
Local authorities were notified of their allocation for Phase 2A graduate planner posts on 17 April 2025. A graduate planner recruitment campaign was launched on 13 May 2025 to attract graduate planners into Ireland’s Local Authorities, which was supported by my Department. The occupation of town planner has been added to the Critical Skills Occupation List which will allow eligible non-EEA professionals from outside of Europe to benefit from streamlined employment permit processes, making it easier for Irish employers to recruit and retain international talent in this vital sector.
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 further 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.
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. My Department oversees workforce planning for the local government sector, including the monitoring of local government sector employment levels. To this end, my Department gathers aggregate quarterly data on staff numbers in each local authority on a whole time equivalent basis. However, granular data, in terms of the number of planners employed in each local authority, is not collected and consequently is not available in my Department. The relevant information would be available directly from each local authority.
The recruitment and filling of posts in the local authority sector is undertaken both by individual local authorities and the Public Appointments Service depending on the level and tenure of the post concerned.
