Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 13 May 2025
720. Deputy Grace Boland asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage how many county directors of planning hold professional planning qualifications; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23606/25]
Amharc ar fhreagra721. Deputy Grace Boland asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the recommended number of planners for county councils nationwide, as per various reports and reviews, to enable them to manage their growing workload and function in a timely efficient manner; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23607/25]
Amharc ar fhreagra722. Deputy Grace Boland asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage how any shortfall will be addressed and new planners recruited as soon as possible; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23608/25]
Amharc ar fhreagra723. Deputy Grace Boland asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether all county councils have been instructed to recruit overseas as well as in the Irish market to fill vacancies, including posts in the EU; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23609/25]
Amharc ar fhreagra734. Deputy Grace Boland asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of planners working in county councils nationwide; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23622/25]
Amharc ar fhreagra735. Deputy Grace Boland asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of hold appropriate professional planning qualifications; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23623/25]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 720, 721, 722, 723, 734 and 735 together.
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.
My Department does not collect data on the educational or professional qualifications held by local authority employees. Section 160 of the Local Government Act 2001 provides the Minister with the power to declare qualifications of such classes and descriptions as he or she thinks fit for a specified employment under a local authority or for such of the employments as belong to a specified class, description or grade. Orders made under section 160 of the Local Government Act 2001 declaring qualifications for planning posts in the local government sector are available on my Department's website at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/department-of-housing-local-government-and-heritage/collections/planning-services-in-local-authorities-qualifications/ .
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. Section 160(1)(c) of the Local Government Act 2001 provides that a person is not to be appointed to any employment under a local authority for which qualifications are for the time being declared under section 160 unless he or she possesses those qualifications.
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 remain in place to oversee the implementation and ongoing review of the Action Plan. Five Working Groups, the members of which come from multiple key stakeholders, have been established to progress grouped actions in the areas of education, national recruitment, international recruitment, system reform and innovation and efficiency. These working groups have met a number of times and the work of the groups is progressing well.
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/ .
Under Working Group 3 (International Recruitment Actions 6, 7 , 8 and 9), 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. The addition of this key profession to the Critical Skills Occupations List is a decisive step to addressing planning resource shortages and reinforcing the capacity of our planning system to help meet current and future needs.
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 112 posts - 56 graduate planner posts and 56 staff officer posts - to support the Planning function within local authorities. Engagement is ongoing with the Local Government sector regarding a third tranche of posts.
