Housing Policy Dail Éireann — 2026-06-25 ============================================================ Kieran O'Donnell (FG), Limerick City I take this opportunity to thank Deputy O'Rourke for raising this important matter and providing me with an opportunity to update the House. I am taking this Topical Issue on behalf of Deputy James Browne, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage. Under the Planning and Development Act 2024 local authorities are obliged to prepare and adopt development plans that may make provision for the delivery of recreational facilities and amenities. While the making of a development plan is a reserved function of the elected members of each local authority under the Act, the development plan guidelines for planning authorities of 2022 set out that when making zoning decisions, consideration must be given to the future availability of, or the capacity to provide, supporting local community and amenity services and infrastructure, including recreation and sports facilities. The sustainable residential development and compact settlements guidelines of 2024 indicate that planning authorities should plan for an integrated network of well-designed neighbourhoods that can meet day-to-day needs, including sporting needs, within a ten- to 15-minute walk of all homes. In the case of larger settlements, the residents of less central neighbourhoods should have the opportunity to travel by public transport, and other sustainable modes such as greenways, to access higher order services and amenities at more central and accessible locations. Section 7.3 of these guidelines sets out that every development plan should include an objective for a community, social and cultural infrastructure audit for areas that are likely to experience significant new development and should have a clear evidence-based rationale for future requirements in order to maximise the social return and community benefit generated by public investment by State agencies and others. Policy and objective 5.1 of these guidelines states that statutory development plans should include an objective relating to the provision of public open space in new residential developments and in mixed-use developments that include a residential element. The requirement in the development plan shall be for public open space provision of not less than a minimum of 10% of net site area and not more than 15% of net site area, save in exceptional circumstances. Different minimum requirements within the 10% to 15% range may be set for different areas. The guidelines state that public open spaces should be designed to cater for a range of active and passive recreational needs, including play, physical activity, active travel, cultural uses and community gardens and allotments, as appropriate to the context. The Deputy may be interested to note that Sport Ireland is a prescribed body for the purposes of plan-making in accordance with the Planning and Development (Prescribed Persons - Statutory Plans) Regulations 2025, SI 458 of 2025. The Office of the Planning Regulator, OPR, is carrying out initial research into sporting facilities and the planning system. As part of this, it is liaising with Sport Ireland and other sporting bodies to examine how local authorities can more effectively plan for the provision of sports and recreational facilities for their communities. With regard to the delivery of such facilities, responsibility for Government policy on sport and the funding and function of Sport Ireland lies with my colleague, the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport. In accordance with section 63(3) of the Local Government Act 2001, local authorities are independent in the performance of their functions. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-06-25/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:54:51+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-06-25