About

The Department of Housing Planning and Local Government, on behalf of the Government, has prepared a draft National Planning Framework called Ireland 2040 Our Plan.

Earlier this year, Government consulted with people across Ireland through a national campaign asking for views and opinions about making a plan for Ireland. Thousands of submissions were received, reviewed and considered before a draft plan was drawn up.

A draft of Ireland 2040 – Our Plan is now available, together with a number of environmental reports (including a Strategic Environmental Assessment Environmental Report) and other supporting information here.

What is “Ireland 2040 – Our Plan” ?

Ireland 2040 – Our Plan is a spatial expression of Government policy and will provide a National Planning Framework to guide national, regional and local planning and investment decisions for the years ahead, building on and co-ordinating the existing regional and local authority planning processes. Regional Spatial and Economic Strategies (RSES’s) and City and County Development Plan.

Ireland 2040 – Our Plan will, amongst a range of issues, address the future development direction of our cities, towns and rural areas. The framework will specifically address;-

• The role of our Cities and Towns;
• The potential of our Regions;
• Rural Development;
• Providing better quality of life for people and communities;
• Provision of homes to meet future needs;
• Our coastal and marine areas;
• Co ordination of place making with our neighbours;
• The role of planning in responding to climate change; and
• The context for future infrastructural investment.

Planning for the future makes a real difference to people’s lives. Ireland 2040 focuses on practical ways long-term planning can enhance where we live, where we work, how we move around, our quality of life and prosperity and our environment.

Ireland 2040 Vision

The vision set out under this Framework Plan is based on a set of values that will ensure Ireland’s long term economic, environmental and social progress for all parts of our country. In framing a new way forward, Ireland 2040 – Our Plan draws upon lessons learned from the National Spatial Strategy and highlights a vision of success based on better choices compared to a ‘business as usual’ approach.

Key Elements of “Ireland 2040 Our Plan”

Ireland 2040 includes a vision and strategy that is supported by a series of National Policy Objectives and will be aligned with the Government’s ten year National Investment Plan. The National Planning Framework seeks to:

• Guide the future development of Ireland, taking into account a projected 1 million increase in our population, the need to create 660,000 additional jobs to achieve full employment and a need for 550,000 more homes by 2040;
• Enable people to live closer to where they work, moving away from the current unsustainable trends of increased commuting;
• Secure more compact forms of urban development in all types of settlements.
• Regenerate rural Ireland by promoting environmentally sustainable growth patterns;
• Plan for and implement a better distribution of regional growth, in terms of jobs and prosperity;
• Transform settlements of all sizes through imaginative urban regeneration and bring life / jobs back into cities, towns and villages;
• Co-ordinate delivery of infrastructure and services in tandem with growth, through joined-up NPF/National Investment Plan and consistent sectoral plans, which will help to manage this growth and tackle congestion and quality of life issues.

Publications

You can read a draft of Ireland 2040 – Our Plan and other supporting information.