450. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if, as part of the new national planning statement, he will review or amend the provisions of the national roads guidelines that restrict one-off housing on national secondary roads such as the N56; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51135/26]

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.

Until they are replaced by any final National Planning Statement, the 2005 Sustainable Rural Housing Guidelines for Planning Authorities, 2005 remain in effect.

With regard to development on national roads, the Spatial Planning and National Roads Guidelines, issued in 2012 as Ministerial Guidelines by the then Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government under section 28 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 (as amended), set out the circumstances under which access can be provided. Planning authorities are required to have regard to the Guidelines in the performance of their functions.

The Guidelines state that local authority Development Plans must include policies which seek to maintain and protect the safety, capacity and efficiency of national roads and associated junctions, avoiding the creation of new accesses and the intensification of existing accesses to national roads where a speed limit greater than 50 kmh applies. The guidelines do state that, in certain circumstances, planning authorities may identify stretches of national secondary roads where a less restrictive approach may be applied as part of the process of reviewing or varying the relevant development plan.

Development plans and any relevant local area plans may provide for a limited level of direct access to national roads to facilitate orderly urban development on the approaches to or exit from urban centres that are subject to a speed limit of 60 kmh before a lower 50 kmh limit is encountered. The Guidelines also state that access to national roads will be considered by planning authorities in accordance with normal road safety, traffic management and urban design criteria for built up areas where a 50 kmh limit applies.

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 local authority development plan is the principal planning policy tool to achieve these national objectives at a local level. When preparing a development plan, planning authorities were required under the 2000 Act to have regard to any Ministerial Guidelines issued under section 28 of that Act, and to apply any specific planning policy requirements contained within those Guidelines. Ministerial Guidelines will, over time, be replaced with National Planning Statements (NPSs) issued under Section 25 of the new Planning and Development Act of 2024. Going forward, all development plans must be ‘materially consistent’ with any National Planning Policies and Measures and take ‘due account’ of any National Planning Policy Guidance in an NPS.