Shortages of trained planners in local councils and the private sector are hitting efforts to deal with the Republic’s housing crisis, build National Development Plan projects and meet climate action goals, figures within the industry warn.
Planners want the Government to clarify plans to allow professionals from outside the EU to work here in a bid to tackle a skills shortage that risks undermining efforts to tackle the State’s infrastructure issues.
Professional body, the Irish Planning Institute, says they will seek clarification from the Department of Enterprise in coming days about efforts to add planners to the Critical Skills Occupation List, which speeds up recruitment of qualified people from outside the EU or the European Economic Area.
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Minister for Housing and Local Government Darragh O’Brien pledged to add the profession to the critical skills list in the ministerial action plan on planning resources, which he published in October and the profession widely expected the Department of Enterprise would do so in its updated Critical Skills Occupation List, due for publication in February 2025.
More than two years ago, the Local Government Management Agency identified a shortage of 500 planners across the Republic’s city and county councils.
In 2023, the Department of Housing approved an 101 planning posts in local authorities. More recently, Government approved a further 112 jobs, and local authorities are due to begin hiring these shortly. That will cut the original shortfall by 213.
Those figures do not include the number needed in the private sector, whose professionals draw up many of the plans for key projects.
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However, according to a spokeswoman for the Department of Enterprise, a Government interdepartmental group on migration decided that there was not enough evidence to warrant the inclusion of planners on the list in a submission it received in 2023.
She added that as her department had not yet received a submission from the Department of Housing or the industry body setting out the case for adding planners to the critical skills list, it could not confirm if this was going to happen, or when it could happen.
Gavin Lawlor, institute president, said on Tuesday that his organisation was “disappointed” at this response as it understood that that case had been made. He added that the institute was in contact with the Department of Employment on the issue.
The Department of Housing said it was working on a submission with the Department of Further and Higher Education “regarding the inclusion of planning professionals on the Critical Skills Occupation List”.
The Department of Enterprise spokeswoman added that it would “give due consideration to any submission received and amend the Critical Skills Occupation List as appropriate”.
Addition to the list speeds up the work permit process for non-EU or European Economic Area citizens seeking work in the Republic, once they are qualified in the fields included.
The system is meant to tackle skills shortages likely to continue into the medium term, according to the Department of Enterprise spokeswoman, who added that it was not meant as substitute for boosting Irish workers’ qualifications or for maximising the potential to hire European workers.
Mr O’Brien’s plan includes pledges to lure home-qualified Irish planners working abroad and to attract school leavers to train as professional planners. He intended the measures as a response to increasing pressure on the Irish planning system and growing demand for professionals. The Oireachtas passed a comprehensive new planning act in 2024 designed to iron out many of the system’s flaws.
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