Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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In 2018, the National Planning Framework (NPF) replaced the National Spatial Strategy as the overall spatial planning and development strategy for Ireland. The NPF, together with the National Development Plan (NDP), combine to form Project Ireland 2040, the overarching policy and planning framework for the social, economic and cultural development of Ireland.

Government approved the process to commence the first revision of the NPF in June 2023 and then agreed in March 2024 to defer the approval until slightly later than originally planned. A public consultation on the draft revised NPF opened on 10 July 2024 and closes on 12 September 2024. After consideration of the inputs received through the consultation, a finalised revision of the NPF is expected to be approved.

The NPF in 2018 included National Policy Objective 2a, which sought to focus 50% of “future population and employment growth” in the existing five cities of Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford and their suburbs. This target reflected the overall ambition of the NPF to foster stronger regions with accessible centres of scale. The draft revision of the NPF preserves this target of 50% of future population and employment growth in the cities and their suburbs (National Policy Objective 4 in the draft revision).

From census 2016 to 2022, national population grew by 387,274 people with the five cities growing in total by 124,543 people, accounting for approximately 32% of national growth. It was a similar split for employment growth – nationally, the numbers at work grew by 313,656 people and the number of jobs in the five cities represented approximately 29% of the overall growth. The NPF target of 50% growth share for population and employment in the five cities seeks to align the growth target for both together in a sustainable manner in line with other principles in the NPF, such as compact growth.

The NPF is of strong relevance to the work of my Department and its agencies as it guides policy and strategic objectives, supports regionally balanced development and economic growth and provides the enterprise base with a coherent view of Ireland’s future development. As Ireland’s economy and population grow, it is critical that spatial planning is implemented effectively to support the creation and maintenance of sustainable jobs, attract talent and foster an attractive business environment.

IDA Ireland, for example, plays a key role supporting regional employment growth and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). IDA is now in the final year of its current strategy and recent performance of the FDI sector has exceeded expectations in an increasingly challenging global economic environment. The total number of regional jobs stands at 163,471 of a total of 300,583 as at the end of 2023. 131 investments were won in the first half of 2024, 74 of which were secured across regional locations, representing 56% of all investments.

Advancing Ireland’s FDI and trade value proposition is a key pillar of Ireland’s enterprise strategy as set out in the Government’s White Paper on Enterprise. In this context, IDA is at an advanced stage of development of its successor strategy for the period ahead, which will seek to protect and enhance Ireland’s international reputation to promote and facilitate FDI; the strategy will also support continued attraction of jobs and investment throughout the country while ensuring FDI embeddedness in Ireland and continued agility in a changing world.