• 03 Mar 2023

RIAI Represented at the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage

RIAI President, Charlotte Sheridan and Kathryn Meghen CEO represented the RIAI at the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage as part of the Committee’s pre legislative scrutiny of the Draft Planning and Development Bill. Links to the Statement and the Video are below.

The review of the Planning Act provides a once in a generation opportunity to create a planning system that is fit for purpose. Our Planning Act must meet the true purpose of planning – to provide a system that proactively manages the development and use of land in the long-term public interest, that takes a long-term view of the population, demographic and built environment needs of the country. 

The RIAI is calling for a cultural change in how we plan, that we move towards a design led, plan led approach, with the benefit multi disciplinary leadership to include architects at a senior level. We need to ensure that our planning system is proactive, collaborative and creates certainty for all stakeholders. In this way, our planning system can support the government’s ambition under the National Policy on Architecture – Places for People (2022) to embed quality in architecture and placemaking and to increase our environmental, economic, and social sustainability and resilience for all.

RIAI Statement 

Committee Video