Ireland's State of the Environment Report 2024

124 Chapter 5: Land Figure 5.7  An overview of the Irish planning system NATIONAL National Planning Framework Local Area Plans Establishes policy context for... REGIONAL Regional spatial and economic strategies LOCAL Development plans (including Core strategy) Assessment of and decisions on development proposals EU, National legislation and policy EU Directives Planning legislation Ministerial guidelines Government policy ✔ ___ ✘ ___ ✔ ___ Application to Planning Authority (PA) or An Bord Pleanála (ABP) – Strategic Infrastructure (SI) and Strategic Housing Development (SHD) Planning Applications Development/Refusal of Planning Permission SI/SHD Decisions PA Decision ABP decisions to grant/refuse Appeal? Capital programmes Local authority Housing strategy Retail strategy Local economic and community plans Capital programmes Source: Adapted from Government of Ireland, 2018 The NPF sets out broad goals for how Ireland’s land should be used, but there are also other policies and strategies that make commitments on how land should be used or managed. Many demands come from current economic and social contexts that are unlikely to change: we need land for housing and to grow our food, and these needs will continue. Other policies have land use implications (Table 5.3) either to use land for new and different purposes or to manage land in a different way. The high-level review in Table 5.3 is not exhaustive: it does not catalogue every policy or strategy that has a land use impact. It highlights the main environmental policies and shows that, as pressures on Ireland’s land continue, we must find a way to resolve competing demands while managing land in a manner that supports its ability to play its important role in air and water cycles and in supporting healthy ecosystems.