1661. Deputy Cathal Crowe asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to provide an update on the Ministerial action plan on planning resources; the number of posts recruited; the number unfilled; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55957/26]

In 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 and Budget 2026 to support the delivery of the Action Plan and a Steering Group established to coordinate and oversee the development of this Action Plan remains in place to oversee the implementation and ongoing review of the Action Plan.

In early 2025, the occupation of town planner was added to the Critical Skills Occupation List (Action 9 of the Ministerial Action Plan) which allows 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. This addition 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, officials are collaborating with the local government sector and key stakeholders 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, approval was conveyed to the filling of an initial 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.

On 13 May 2025, a national recruitment campaign was launched to attract graduate planners into Ireland’s local authorities, (Action 4 of the Ministerial Action Plan) which was supported by the Department. Regional interviews were held in late July 2025 and most of these posts are now filled.

More recently, under Phase 3 of the programme of supports, 31 new full-time posts in the local authority planning services were approved across the 31 local authorities and funding for local authorities to support a summer intern programme for second and third year University planning students was also recently approved.

DPER sanction has been recently received for six graduate planner posts across the three Regional Assemblies to resource Planning and Economic Development functions at those levels.

The Department continues to collaborate with the Local Government Sector and key stakeholders to further increase staffing levels in the local government planning sector and the Department is currently awaiting receipt of a business case from the CCMA for a Phase 4 of supports.

The following table provides a breakdown of the number of posts allocated, filled, and currently vacant under Phases 1-3 of the Programme of Supports:

*The recruitment process is currently underway for these posts which were recently approved.