Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 15 July 2026
278. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his views on a matter (details supplied); if his Department is planning to amend the enforcement of the Spatial Planning and National Roads Guidelines for Planning Authorities, which is prohibiting young couples from farming backgrounds building a house next to the family home along TII routes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54238/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraNational policy in relation to the provision of access to national roads is set out in the Spatial Planning and National Roads Guidelines for Planning Authorities (2012) which were issued by the Minister under section 28 of the Planning and Development Act 2000. The Guidelines seek to protect the capacity, efficiency and safety of national roads and their strategic transport function through both the plan-making and development management processes.
The Guidelines are clear that the planning system must ensure that the strategic function of national roads is maintained by limiting the extent of development that would give rise to the generation of short trip traffic on national roads or alternatively by ensuring that the trip demand from future development will primarily be catered for on the non-national network.
The Guidelines require all development plans and any relevant local area plans to avoid the creation of new accesses and the intensification of existing accesses to national roads that give rise to the generation of additional turning movements that introduce additional safety risks to road users. Therefore, planning authorities and TII must guard against a proliferation of roadside developments accessing national roads to which speed limits greater than 50-60 km/h apply as part of the overall effort to reduce road fatalities and injuries.
The Guidelines include provisions governing exceptional circumstances where planning authorities may identify stretches of national roads where a less restrictive approach to development may be applied. This may occur as part of the process of reviewing or varying the relevant development plan and having consulted with, and having regard to the advice of, TII.
A less restrictive approach may also apply to areas where development may require new accesses to certain lightly-trafficked sections of national secondary routes serving structurally weak and remote communities where a balance needs to be struck between the important transport functions of such roads and supporting the social and economic development of these areas and on edges of urban centres that are subject to a speed limit of 60 kmh to facilitate orderly urban development (subject to a road safety audit).
In making a decision in respect of an application for planning permission for development that may affect a national road, planning authorities (and An Coimisiún Pleanála) are required under the Planning and Development Acts to consider the application in the context of the relevant Development Plan, or Local Area Plan, as well as any relevant Ministerial Guidelines, including the Spatial Planning and National Roads Guidelines (2012).
Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) is a prescribed body under the Planning and Development Act and Regulations. As a prescribed body, planning authorities are required to consult with TII regarding planning applications and development plans that may impact the functioning of national roads.
Both the zoning of land under the Planning and Development Acts, and the setting of speed limits under the Road Traffic Act, are reserved functions of local authorities. Section 63(3) of the Local Government Act 2001 provides that, subject to law, a Local Authority is independent in the performance of its functions.
The Government agreed a proposed policy direction for Rural and Gaeltacht housing on 30 June 2026. This means that the Draft National Planning Statement (NPS) on Sustainable Rural and Gaeltacht Housing, prepared by my Department under Section 25 of the Planning and Development Act 2024, can now move to environmental assessment under relevant EU Directives, prior to its approval by Government.
The new draft Statement refines and updates the existing 2005 Rural Housing Guidelines to reflect the 2024 Act and the established policy in the Revised National Planning Framework (NPF), which is to facilitate new rural housing for those with a local rural housing need, balanced with preventing urban generated sprawl in rural areas under urban development pressures, protecting and promoting the cultural and linguistic heritage of the Gaeltacht, and the regeneration of rural towns and villages.
The proposed new policy approach seeks to provide more clarity and consistency across the various planning authorities by defining the relevant planning and local needs criteria to be applied in local development plans and in the consideration of planning applications for single rural housing in rural and Gaeltacht areas.
The draft NPS will now be assessed for purposes of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and Appropriate Assessment (AA) under the EU SEA and Birds and Habitats Directives, including any necessary associated consultation, in advance of the planned publication of a final NPS, further to Government approval, before the end of 2026.
Under Section 25 of the 2024 Planning and Development Act, draft National Planning Statements are subject to approval by Government prior to issue by the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage.
The transition of section 28 Ministerial Planning Guidelines to National Planning Statements under the Planning and Development Act 2024 will include a review of the Spatial Planning and National Roads Guidelines for Planning Authorities, as signalled in the Programme for Government. The timing of the issuing of National Planning Statements is based on Government priorities, noting also that policy responsibility for national roads rests with the Minister for Transport and accordingly my Department will be engaging with the Department of Transport in this regard. In the interests of clarity, the existing Spatial Planning and National Roads Guidelines and the Sustainable Rural Housing Guidelines for Planning Authorities will continue to have effect until such time as they are replaced by a corresponding National Planning Statement.
