I raise with the Tánaiste the issue of the national planning framework and the finalisation of the current draft as a completed document. It is an exceptionally important framework which will take us forward to 2040 and inform the way investment is made over that period. It is crucial that the document is ambitious, comprehensive and sustainable, but it is also crucial that it is balanced. Unfortunately, the draft framework document cannot be described that way. It neglects many parts of the country and leaves out rural Ireland. It is even the case that many of the Government's own backbenchers, who have stood by and overseen the development of a two-speed economy, are complaining about the national framework plan and the draft document. The two matters on which I wish to touch today are, first, the impact of the draft plan on provincial Ireland and, second, the importance of ensuring the Border regions feature as a key aspect of the final document.

To start with provincial Ireland, I note that we have seen a real lack of regional balance. Areas like the midlands, the north west, Sligo and the Border regions have not been catered for in the draft plan. That is particularly important because all planning from here on will have to drop down from the framework. Areas which are excluded may be starved of investment as a result. Housing in rural areas and the ability of people living there to develop enterprises and to work in their communities are also key. The draft plan gives rise to concerns on these issues also and must be addressed in that regard. We must recognise in the plan that people should be allowed to build houses for social reasons, including to maintain the vibrancy of their communities and to avoid people having to leave their local areas. Likewise, they must be able to create jobs locally.

We must ensure that the final framework document makes the development of our Border regions a strategic priority. These regions have been particularly affected because of the Troubles historically and a lack of political integration since they ended. Of our island's population, 72% are in the Republic while 28% are in Northern Ireland. It is crucial to do this on a cross-Border basis to ensure that our Border regions develop properly. This is not least the case in my own area in Donegal. Donegal County Council and Derry and Strabane Council have worked very closely over the past couple of years to develop the north-west growth partnership and the north-west city region encompassing Letterkenny and Derry. It is crucial that the city region is included in the plan as Derry is the fourth largest population centre on the island of Ireland. We must recognise that in our own planning framework so that it informs our investment decisions in such a way as to ensure that growth is spread out.

I ask the Tánaiste for assurances on housing, enterprise and a proper regional spread in rural Ireland and to indicate that Border regional development will become a strategic priority in the final document.

This plan has been at least three years in the making. The job began when Deputy Alan Kelly was the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, continued when I was there for a year and is being finalised by the current Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy. In that period, there have been over 40 regional engagements with stakeholders. I personally chaired meetings in Sligo, Athlone, Cork, Waterford, Galway, Dundalk and two in Dublin to ensure the process was about a national plan which was not dominated by any one coast or city. The whole point of this is to plan for a very different type of Ireland from the one we have seen develop over the past 20 or 30 years in terms of where people live, how they move around and where industry and enterprise can grow and expand. This is about rebalancing the country over the next 20 years when we know an extra 1 million people will be added to our population. If the Deputy wants numbers on that, it is no secret that 75% of the increase must and will be catered for in the plan outside Dublin. Of the population growth, 50% will be outside cities. We are talking about a plan that is big news for rural Ireland as well as one which is very strategic for cities and big towns. Of course, the Border must be part of our thinking.

It is not even mentioned.

The input that has gone into the plan will ensure that is the case. The north west must also be strategically incorporated into a population growth story. Currently, there is no city on the Southern side of the Border. Of course, the interaction with Derry is a huge part of Donegal's economy and that of the north west generally.

I assure the Deputy that what people are looking at is a draft plan which was published for consultation in September. Since then, there have been significant conversations and interactions with other political parties and the Oireachtas committee and it is up to the Government to get the balance right in terms of a plan to influence how local authorities and, indeed, many Departments behave and make decisions over the next two decades. It is a plan that will be backed up with a ten-year capital expenditure programme of over €100 billion for the next decade. That will be consistent with the thinking in the plan which will be good for rural Ireland and the cities also. That is what we are trying to achieve.

The Minister described the plan as "big news" but as currently constituted, it is big bad news for certain regions unless it is amended.

By the Deputy.

By the Opposition.

That is why the issues I have raised with the Tánaiste and sought assurances on must be dealt with and the document must be modified in advance of finalisation and publication. Can the Tánaiste give me specific assurances on the concerns I have raised to ensure there is actually a regional spread, that there is a key strategic priority to develop Border regions and that people living in rural parts of Ireland, who comprise 40% of our population, can continue to live and earn a living in those areas? We need those assurances. Given the importance of the plan and the need to get it right, will it actually come to the Dáil and will the Government seek the approval and endorsement of the House for it? That is crucial and the Tánaiste must give us an assurance on it.

What we are going to have, for the first time, is a planning framework and a new national plan which will be based in law through a new planning Bill, which, hopefully, will be concluded by Easter. That will require any future Government to ensure that, in the review mechanisms that are built into this plan, whereby it can be upgraded, changed and improved every six years, there is a requirement to consult with the Oireachtas through the Oireachtas committee system. That is what has happened this time, of course, but, ultimately, a Government needs to finalise decisions in terms of public expenditure and planning, and so on. In this regard, it needs to be guided by the wisdom of the House and, indeed, the committee system and the broader consultation process, which we were obliged to go through and which we have followed, and which will be consistent with the legislation when that is finalised. That is how the legislative obligation we are taking on is going to work.

In regard to what the Deputy has asked for, which is clarity around balance, regional growth and population spread, all of those things will be part of this plan. When it is launched, I think people will be quite excited by what they see.