The draft Planning and Development Bill for Ireland has officially been published today, 26 January.

This new Bill has been welcomed by the all-island professional membership body for spatial planners, the Irish Planning Institute.

Welcoming the publication, Mary Mac Mahon, President of the IPI, said: "Our members work within the planning system and therefore have first-hand knowledge, across a range of backgrounds and sectors, of the planning process and current legislation, and know its faults as well as its successes. The draft Bill comes following the most comprehensive review of the Planning and Development Act since it was enacted over twenty years ago. It presents a once in a generation opportunity to improve the functioning of the planning system for practitioners and the public.

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"The Institute will now engage with our members with a view to provide practical recommendations for further amending and improving the Bill through the legislative process in order to deliver a well-resourced, plan led, dynamic and responsive planning system that ensures the proper planning and sustainable development of our country in the interests of the common good."