PAI Newsletter: Issue 613

Public Affairs Ireland are delighted to announce that the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O'Brien TD will deliver the keynote address at this year's Social Housing and State Lands Conference.

Minister O’Brien will open the mornings event with a keynote review of the governments housing strategy and a progress report on Housing for All. We look forward to welcoming the Minister, our panel of expert speakers and industry leaders. Led by our 2022 conference chairperson, Jim Power, our conference will address topical issues relevant to current strategic planning, practice, and policy.

With housing hitting headline news daily, PAI will spotlight the progress made to date and assess how housing policy measures up on the course to achieve targets for government.

Topics for discussion on the day include:

• Progress report of governments Housing for All strategy
• Public land & management of large capital projects: Balancing the political policy with legislative requirements - Transparency, Accountability and Better Oversight
• Optimising relevant public Lands - Developing the register, obligations, and reporting
• Mapping the effectiveness of planning gains: Delivery of social homes & the wider implications
• Building better partnerships: Local Authority & AHB engagement, cost benefits, Part V Agreements & standardising the Local Authority approach
• Building sustainable communities & an analysis of the viability of Part V

This event will be of relevance to public servants from government Departments, Local Authorities, Approved Housing Bodies, planning departments, boards of governance, legal advisors, procurement, and policy officers directly involved in the management, development or disposal of public real property and their advisors. 

Attendees will benefit from the experiences of others in the public service. There is informal networking time during breaks and speaker presentation material will be made available to attendees for retention of their training records. 

View more or secure your place here

This year's Ireland’s National Reform Programme (NRP) has been published.

An NRP is produced annually as part of Ireland's engagement in the European Semester Process. In line with guidance provided by the European Commission on the phased reintroduction of the Semester, following the pandemic, the NRP this year has been streamlined, and focuses on providing context and information in relation to both reform and investment implementation, and policy initiatives currently underway. In doing so it draws extensively from the Programme for Government – Our Shared Future, along with key Government policies, including the Economic Recovery Plan, the National Development Plan, the Climate Action Plan, and Housing for All.

The NRP provides details on the following:

• The macroeconomic context of the programme, in line with Ireland’s Stability Programme Update 2022.
• Key policy responses to major economic, employment and societal developments.
• Ireland’s policy approach and response to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
• An update on Ireland’s use of EU Funds.
• The institutional processes and stakeholder involvement involved in the development of this year’s NRP.
• The steps taken by Ireland to address Country Specific Recommendations (CSRs)
• Ireland’s implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights.

Download Ireland's National Reform Programme here.

Next week the The Housing Commission will hold a conference serving as a listening exercise to examine the complex constitutional questions arising and the various proposals that have been made around the potential wording for an amendment to the Constitution and to assist the commission in its task to advise the government, in an independent and objective manner, regarding the critical factors for consideration and to make recommendations as to the appropriate wording to be put to the people.

The discussion regarding the Referendum will include:

• The role of the state: Private Property Rights, State Duties and Housing Rights
• Adjudicating on Housing: Challenges for the Courts
• International experience with a Referendum on Housing

Carbon Budgets

Ireland’s first carbon budget programme has been approved by the Government and adopted by both Houses of the Oireachtas.

A carbon budget represents the total amount of emissions, measured in tonnes of CO2 equivalent, that may be emitted by a country or a region during a specific time period.

The carbon budget programme, comprising three 5-year budgets (2021-2025; 2026-2030; and 2031-2035), came into effect on 6 April 2022.

Section 6B(12) of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Amendment Act 2021 provides that the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications must publish the approved carbon budget programme within 30 days of them coming into effect.

Download the Carbon Budget here.

Ministers announce ambitious new Strategic Action Plan for the National Parks and Wildlife Service

Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage Darragh O’Brien and Minister of State for Heritage and Electoral Reform Malcolm Noonan today published a Strategic Action Plan for the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) following government approval. The Plan sets out an ambitious timeline for a full organisational restructuring of the NPWS, and a substantial €55 million additional investment in the organisation across 3 budgetary cycles, together with the early recruitment of 60 key staff for critically important roles.

Launching the Strategic Action Plan in Ballykeeffe Nature Reserve in Co. Kilkenny, Minister Noonan said:

“The renewal of the National Parks and Wildlife Service is the keystone action in this government’s response to the biodiversity emergency and today, I’m announcing a suite of strategic actions to transform the organisation, which have now been approved at Cabinet.

I’m delighted to confirm that the NPWS will be established as an Executive Agency, giving it a strong identity and voice to speak for nature. Its internal structures will be overhauled, delivering a stronger focus on external engagement and delivery of outcomes. New Directorates, organised along functional lines, will benefit from the early recruitment of 60 key staff for critically important roles".

This Strategic Action Plan aims to deliver an NPWS that is more resilient, better resourced, and better equipped to play its part in Ireland’s response to the biodiversity emergency, on the national and international stage. The Plan will equip the NPWS with the organisational capability and supporting structures to enable it to deliver its mandate in protecting our natural heritage.

Launching the plan, Minister Darragh O’Brien said:

"It is vital that we have a resilient and effective NPWS to perform all of those functions. I am very pleased that we now have government approval for this Strategic Action Plan, which will provide the momentum to build on the very significant gains which, working with the Minister of State, I have been able to secure for the organisation in the past two budgets, bringing its funding, for the first time since the financial crisis, back to pre-2008 levels. I am happy too for the dedicated and expert team who have sustained the NPWS through so many years - with the implementation of this Strategic Action Plan, the future of the NPWS looks bright.”

Today’s announcement fulfils an important commitment in the Programme for Government, providing for a significant investment in, and a renewal of, the National Parks and Wildlife Service. This renewal is underpinned by a comprehensive, expert review of the organisation, which has now been completed by independent authors. 

Read the full action plan here.

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Oireachtas Business

This Week in the Dáil

This Week in the Seanad

This week's Committee Meetings

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Notice of Appointments

Appointments of Chairperson and Ordinary Members to the Pyrite Resolution Board

Appointments to the Board of National Paediatric Hospital Development Board

Appointments to the Board of Citizens Information Board