Responding to the publication of the Ministerial Action Plan on planning resourcing, Gavin Lawlor, President of the Irish Planning Institute said:

“We welcome the Ministerial Action Plan published by the Minister of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, including the commitment to ensure the planning profession is added to the Critical Skills Occupation list, which is a move in the right direction.

“Ensuring that the Plan delivers the necessary resources will be vital to the growth of the profession and to ensuring that we take forward crucial infrastructure projects, achieve the national climate objective and provide housing to meet the needs of the growing population. However, with the unprecedented demand for professional planners throughout the public and private sector, we believe a lot more can and should be done.

“The resourcing challenge facing the sector can only be addressed by learning directly from the experiences of planning professionals who work across every area of the sector.  Professional organisations representing all branches of the planning system must be involved in the future development and delivery of the Ministerial Action Plan. We look forward to working with the department and the Minister on its delivery.”