Planning In Ireland Research Articles

UK–Ireland Planning Research Conference 2016

IntroductionThe UK-Ireland Planning Research Conference is an annual event that showcases cutting-edge planning research and provides an opportunity for academics and practitioners to explore current and future issues faced by the field. The 2016 conference was hosted by Cardiff University on 6 and 7 September to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the university's School of Geography and Planning. The theme of the conference was Planning for Future Generations - a theme chosen to reflect the key priorities of the pioneering Well-Being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015. The Act seeks to improve the social, cultural and economic well-being of Welsh citizens, and in doing so reinforces many of the principles upheld by the planning profession, including collaborative working, sustainability and community engagement.On the first day of the conference over 100 delegates from 40 institutions and organisations were welcomed to the historic Glamorgan Building for the opening reception. This was followed by the first plenary session held in the adjacent Bute Building. The delegates then chose to attend a series of parallel sessions, followed by a drinks reception and conference dinner at Principality Stadium. The second day followed a similar format to the first but commenced with a breakfast briefing session for PhD students and early-career researchers, sponsored by Taylor & Francis, which provided practical advice and guidance on how to get published in academic journals. The conference closed with a round table discussion and RTPI awards ceremony.Plenary sessionsThe conference was opened by Professor Paul Milbourne, head of the School of Geography and Planning at Cardiff University, who introduced the conference theme and drew upon the criticality of current planning research for both academy and practice. Referencing Baroness Andrews's (2016) Foreword to English Planning in Crisis: 10 Steps to a Sustainable Future, Prof. Milbourne recognised the concern of planning 'not just for this generation, but for the long-term welfare of future generations'.Following this brief introduction, the first plenary session was presented by Matthew Quinn, director of environment and sustainable development in the Department for Environment and Rural Affairs of the Welsh Government. His presentation focused on the aims, objectives and challenges of the Well-Being of Future Generations Act. In particular he emphasised the difficulty of moving away from a 'single-issue' approach towards one that applies the principles of sustainable development across all areas and therefore encourages greater cross-sectoral collaboration. The Act seeks to deliver a more spatially oriented, holistic approach to dealing with issues related to the environment, society, culture and the economy, and in doing so seeks to change ways of working and thinking with respect to governance and stakeholder engagement. It is being implemented through a series of programmes and strategies, examples of which include a coastal flood-risk management scheme implemented in Colwyn Bay that also succeeded in bringing wider improvements to the public realm and tourism, and the Cynefin Programme, which explored new approaches to improving the well-being of deprived areas in Wales through the employment of 'place coordinators' to empower local people to improve their own quality of life.The second plenary presentation was delivered by Patsy Healey, Emeritus Professor in the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape at Newcastle University. One of the key messages of this presentation was the need to have an evaluative focus on 'well-being', or, as she referred to it, 'human flourishing'. Focusing on the role of planning in 'place governance', she discussed the potential of adopting a relational approach to place, which considers the connections between time and space, and conceptualises change within these 'webs' or 'assemblages' of relations. …

A Linear Programming Model to Biophysically Assess Some Ecosystem Service Synergies and Trade-Offs in Two Irish Landscapes

Ecosystem service provisions are becoming more frequently used to assess land-use related conflicts in recent decades. This study investigates the current spatial and research information available to quantify ecosystem services relative to forest land-use planning in Ireland. A model is developed using the linear-programming method in Remsoft’s Woodstock platform. This model is applied to two case study areas in Ireland: Western Peatlands and Newmarket. Each case study area was chosen to assess a unique issue in the Irish and European context on the provision of ecosystem services. Western Peatlands was chosen to assess the effects of forest and alternative land-use options and Newmarket was chosen to investigate the effect of afforestation. The synergies and trade-offs of biophysically optimising the provisions of each ecosystem service are presented and discussed. The study quantitatively determines that trade-offs among provisions of some ecosystem services are required when optimising an ecosystem service while other ecosystem services are synergistic when the provision of a single ecosystem service is optimised.

Opportunism over strategy: a history of regional policy and spatial planning in Ireland

ABSTRACTSince the 1950s regional policy and spatial planning in Ireland has been largely reactive and opportunistic in nature rather than strategically or ideologically driven. As a result, inconsistent approaches to regional and spatial issues have arisen, driven mainly by short-term goals or issues of the day rather than adherence to a clear, long-term strategic objective. Thus, Government interest in regional and spatial issues has ebbed and flowed in reaction to the events and economic climate of the day; during the 1950s interest surged in reaction to rural decay, emigration and economic failure, waned with entry in to the European Economic Community in 1973 and the prolonged recession of the 1980s and re-emerged in response to growing congestion problems arising from the ‘Celtic Tiger’ at the turn of the century and led to the publication of the National Spatial Strategy (NSS) in 2002. This history is outlined and brought up to date, to incorporate recent developments, such as the publication of the government strategy document ‘Putting People First’. It is hoped that this may provide context to facilitate forthcoming deliberations around the recently announced ‘replacement’ NSS for Ireland.

Planning for the Economic Impacts of Tourism in Ireland: A Local Authority Perspective

In this study, the authors investigate the level of local authority economic planning in Ireland. Every Irish local authority county development plan (CDP) was investigated, utilizing a content analysis approach to differentiate the levels of sustainable economic planning for tourism in 2014. Analysis has found that some local authorities seem to acknowledge tourism's potential for economic development and are developing plans based on this. In spite of this, further analysis reveals a lack of strong effective policies, strategies, economic indicators, and guidelines to sustainably manage the economic impacts of tourism. The findings from this article suggest that local authorities in Ireland still have a lot of work to do if they are to proactively plan to mitigate tourism's negative economic impacts and maximize the positive potential for all tourism stakeholders within the county parameters.

A framework for analysing the local authorities tourism planning in Ireland: A socio-cultural perspective

Tourism inevitably takes people to new places while broadening their perception and knowledge of different cultures and environments. This informative process is an important function of the tourism industry. This study reports on results that form part a postgraduate research thesis, on the levels of planning for the socio-cultural impacts of tourism by local uuthorities in Ireland. Drawing on the theme of sustainable planning for tourism, the authors discuss the concept of socio-cultural sustainability as conveyed by current literature. In addition, the authors investigated every Irish Local Authority County Development Plan (CDP’s), utilising a content analysis approach to identify the level of planning for the socio-cultural impacts of tourism in 2014. CDP’s were found to lack any integration of sustainable tourism indicators, along with any codes of conduct for best practice. Also few local authorities were found to be supporting or implementing tourism certification schemes. All of which local authorities could use to improve their tourism plans from a socio-cultural perspective.

Local authority tourism planning in Ireland: an environmental perspective

This paper reports on environmental planning for tourism by Local Authorities in Ireland. Every Irish Local Authorities, County Development Plan was investigated, utilising a content analysis approach to identify the provision of environmental planning for tourism. Analysis has found Local Authorities are writing plans which focus on tourism's interaction with the environment and support area protection measures. However, results seem to show a lack of robust and detailed tourism policies, strategies, budgets and guidelines to facilitate the implementation of these legally required five year plans. Furthermore, it would seem that there are a small number of Local Authorities whose plans do not exhibit a clear understanding of sustainable tourism indicators as a viable tool for Local Authority planners.

The rise of resilience: Evolution of a new concept in coastal planning in Ireland and the US

Interest in the concept of resilience has grown significantly in recent years. The perceived strengths of resilience as a concept stem from its foundations in the sciences and humanities, and have recently gained currency amongst political actors and in policy spheres. This papers objective is to investigate the value of resilience as a concept when applied to the process of coastal climate change adaptation with a focus on place specificity. As applied to coastal hazards and climate change adaptation, we expect that resilience encompasses more system complexities than a traditional vulnerability or hazards approach. Our aim in this paper is achieved through carrying out a critical analysis of Irish and US academic and policy literature and determining if, and to what degree, one or more of the three selected lenses of psychological, engineering and ecological resilience are applied. Through contrasting the evolution of coastal adaptation policy developments in both Ireland and the U.S. the paper highlights the importance of policy, environment and geography in the area of coastal management. It furthermore examines the question of whether the concept of resilience represents a paradigm shift, or whether it maintains the dominant anthropological perspective of earlier hazard mitigation approaches under new guise.The increasing focus on climate adaptation as more than enhanced hazard mitigation exemplifies that shift. In the U.S. proposals for large-scale retreat programs post-Sandy are further evidence that combined ecological-anthropological approaches are gaining traction, though planning actions taken and factors considered continue to be dominated by parochialism and anthropocentric or psychological definitions of resilience. In Ireland there is a noticeable increase in the ecological resilience grounded practices of adaptive management and co-management in relation to coastal planning. The fostering of Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) frameworks as well as a clear linking between climate adaption and the management of coastal regions underlines this development. Results indicate that resilience, under the three forms explored, is a concept that has recently increased in popularity. Simultaneously, there has been a discernible shift in the direction of broader inclusion of concerns about human–environment interactions, but the two are not necessarily coextensive, and concepts of resilience do not always encompass these concerns.

Standardising assessment instruments and care planning in Ireland

Purpose – Scoping of instruments in use for assessment of needs and the practices that surround care planning in residential care for older people in Ireland, in the wake of the introduction of national standards. The paper discusses these issues. Design/methodology/approach – Survey of care providers using an online/postal questionnaire, developed from the domains of need outlined in the standards. Findings – There is wide variation in the use of standardised instruments for assessment. Within some domains, standardised instruments enjoy near universal usage. However, within other domains, standardised instruments are often absent, external professional input and/or guidelines dominate and/or instruments have been adapted in-house. Practices surrounding care planning are largely homogeneous and the preserve of medical professionals. Research limitations/implications – This research was confined to the Republic of Ireland, limiting generalisation. The self-selecting nature of participants must also be considered. Further research could include, examining how, over time, the standards are shaping care practice, particularly in relation to interdisciplinary working and person-centred care. Practical implications – The non-prescriptive nature of the standards presents a challenge to care providers in selecting appropriate standardised instruments for assessment. In addition, medical dominance of care planning limits the extent to which care plans can enhance the provision of interdisciplinary and person-centred care. Originality/value – This paper contributes to a growing literature on standardisation of assessment and care planning, provides a reference point for comparison with other nations and, in an Irish context, addresses an area that has received little attention to-date. As such, it is of interest to practitioners, care providers and regulators.

Irish Urban Planning Under a Neoliberal Agenda

Much academic attention and debate has been given to the use of and imposition of a Special Purpose Development Authority (SPDA) to Irish urban planning in the 1980s and 1990s to redevelop the Custom House Docks (later enlarged to encompass Dublin docklands). This newly-created agency marked a radical shift in the philosophy guiding urban planning in Ireland towards more overtly facilitative entrepreneurial systems of engagement with the property-development sector. Vested with planning powers to ´fast-track´ planning and development, the Irish SPDA expropriated planning powers entirely from the local authority marginalising planners´ functions in certain locations. Few studies have, however, attempted to document turn-of-the-century shifts in Irish planning by examining more recent changes in the planning code. This paper will attempt to demonstrate how recent changes in the Planning and Development Acts since 2000 only serve to illustrate the inherent bias of Irish urban planning towards favouring private capital over the interests of the ´common good´ by providing an exploration Irish urban planning under a neoliberal agenda.

Ballyhoura—A Case Study of Cohesive Rural Tourism Planning in Ireland

The restructuring of the agricultural industry has been a central objective of many policies in Ireland. The central premise of these policies has been the diversification of the rural economy in order to prevent the decline of Ireland's rural communities (Rural Development Programme 2007–2013). This paper highlights these policies and outlines their importance with regard to diversifying from an agrarian base to tourism development in Ballyhoura Country, Ireland. Discussions are directed to assist in understanding the significance of rural planning so as to ascertain its importance and understand its link with regard to cohesiveness among organisations in the Ballyhoura Country region. The area of literature reviewed with regard to Ballyhoura has reiterated the importance of planning and community involvement in order to successfully diversify from an agrarian base to a thriving rural tourism hub. Ballyhoura has been future-focused and proactive with regard to formulating strategies and securing funding for development. This funding has been utilised to carry out research in relation to tourism development in the region—Ballyhoura Attractions Cluster Development Strategy, 2003, Ballyhoura International Walking Festival Visitor Survey, 2006, Galtee Mountains: Tourism Development Facilitation and Project Management Initiative 2011, Approaches to Participative Community Based Socio Economic Planning: Developing a Model to Underpin the Sustainability of Ireland's Local Communities, 2011, Research on Mountain Biking Trails, 2011, Slieve Felim Concept Plan, 2011. These reports highlight the importance of undertaking a detailed audit of existing tourism infrastructure within a region and ensuring community buy-in before creating or developing strategies and plans.

New chief nurse for Northern Ireland plans to strengthen district services

New chief nurse for Northern Ireland plans to strengthen district services

Nurse migration and health workforce planning: Ireland as illustrative of international challenges

Ireland began actively recruiting nurses internationally in 2000. Between 2000 and 2010, 35% of new recruits into the health system were non-EU migrant nurses. Ireland is more heavily reliant upon international nurse recruitment than the UK, New Zealand or Australia.This paper draws on in-depth interviews (N=21) conducted in 2007 with non-EU migrant nurses working in Ireland, a quantitative survey of non-EU migrant nurses (N=337) conducted in 2009 and in-depth interviews conducted with key stakeholders (N=12) in late 2009/early 2010.Available primary and secondary data indicate a fresh challenge for health workforce planning in Ireland as immigration slows and nurses (both non-EU and Irish trained) consider emigration. Successful international nurse recruitment campaigns obviated the need for health workforce planning in the short-term, however the assumption that international nurse recruitment had ‘solved’ the nursing shortage was short-lived and the current presumption that nurse migration (both emigration and immigration) will always ‘work’ for Ireland over-plays the reliability of migration as a health workforce planning tool. This article analyses Ireland's experience of international nurse recruitment 2000–2010, providing a case study which is illustrative of health workforce planning challenges faced internationally.

Strategic Planning in Ireland's Institutes of Technology

This article focuses upon Ireland's institute of technology sector, which has been transformed from a 1970s technical orientation to its broader current role of research and higher education provision. The transformational shifts experienced by institutes over the previous three decades have been profound: increased autonomy, new managerial and organisational paradigms, and demands for greater transparency, accountability and responsiveness. The legislative requirement on these institutes to publish 5-year strategic plans is seen by Ireland's higher education policy makers as a critical planning and coordinating mechanism; yet little empirical work exists on the degree of alignment engendered by strategic planning among academics and manager-academics. Through an exploration of the experiences of these stakeholders in four institutes, this research reveals a dilemma for Ireland's higher education policy makers; how can the practice of strategic planning become mainstreamed in the unique workplace that is higher education.

‘Irish isn't spoken here?’ Language policy and planning in Ireland

A 2003 Irish short film called Yu Ming is Ainm Dom (My name is Yu Ming) by director Daniel O'Hara describes the experiences of a young Chinese man called Yu Ming who comes to Ireland in search of work. As he prepares to leave China he reads in a travel guide that Gaeilge (or Irish) is the first official language of Ireland and therefore sets out on an intensive learning course. On his arrival in Dublin Yu Ming is delighted to see public signage in Irish that he can understand. At the airport he finds his bealach amach (Way Out) and catches a bus to an lár (the city centre). However, his initial communication with local people in perfect Irish is met with strange looks and confusion with many Dubliners under the impression that they are listening to Chinese. Yu Ming eventually begins a conversation in Irish with an old man in a pub who explains to a perplexed Yu Ming that “Ní labhraítear Gaeilge anseo, labhraítear Béarla anseo – ó Shasana!” (“Irish isn't spoken here – English is spoken here, from England!”). Yu Ming leaves Dublin and finds work in rural western Ireland where the old man has suggested he should go.

Persuasive discourse and language planning in Ireland

Colonial language discourse typically consists of evaluations concerning the respective merits of two or more languages, and the cultures they represent. This can serve as a warrant for imposing a ‘superior’ language. Although such discourse tends to be associated with the conquest of the New World and subsequent European expansion, there is evidence that in the case of Ireland – England’s first overseas colony – an adversarial relation between English and Irish languages existed even before the Elizabethan period. Referring to English legislation, chronicles and other documents, this paper examines the norms, arguments and rhetorical strategies that were used to exert the dominance of the English language in Ireland during late-medieval and early-modern times. In the latter half of the paper, the focus will shift to attempts to create, especially from the seventeenth-century onwards, a ‘pro-Irish reversal’ that used similar arguments and rhetoric to reclaim this denigrated language. Our suggestion is that these pro- and anti-colonial language discourses anticipate those that were used later on in colonial and postcolonial environments.

Implementation of the EU environmental noise directive: Lessons from the first phase of strategic noise mapping and action planning in Ireland

The first phase of noise mapping and action planning in Ireland, in accordance with EU Directive 2002/49/EC, is now complete. In total this included one agglomeration, one airport and approximately 600 km of major roads outside the agglomeration. These noise maps describe the level of noise exposure of approximately 1.25 million people. The first phase of noise mapping was dealt with by five noise mapping bodies while 26 action planning authorities were involved in the development of the associated action plans. The second phase of noise mapping, due to be completed in 2012, sees a reduction in the defined thresholds describing the required agglomerations, roads and railways that have to be mapped. This will have a significant impact on the extent of mapping required. In Ireland this will result in an increased number of local authorities being required to develop strategic noise maps for their area along with the further development of associated action plans. It is appropriate at this point to review the work process and results from the first phase of noise mapping in Ireland in order to establish areas that could be improved, throughout the noise mapping project. In this paper a review of the implementation procedures focussing on (dominant) road traffic noise is presented. It is identified that more standardisation is needed and this could be achieved by the establishment of a national expert steering group.

EU Water Framework Directive-River Basin Management Planning in Ireland

The European Union (EU) Water Framework Directive (WFD) (2000/60/EC) was transposed into Irish law by Statutory Instrument Nos. 722 of 2003, 413 of 2005 and 218 of 2009, which set out a new strategy and process to protect and enhance Ireland's water re- sources and water-dependent ecosystems. The Directive requires a novel, holistic, integrated, and iterative process to address Ireland's natural waters based on a series of six-year planning cycles. Key success factors in implementing the Directive include an in-depth and balanced treatment of the ecological, economic, institutional and cultural aspects of river basin management planning. Introducing this visionary discipline for the management of sustainable water resources requires a solemn commitment to a new mindset and an overarching monitoring and management regime which hitherto has never been attempted in Ireland. The WFD must be implemented in conjunction with a myriad of complimentary directives and associated legislation, addressing such key related topics as flood/ drought management, biodiversity protection, land use planning, and water/wastewater and diffuse pollution engineering and regula- tion. The critical steps identified for river basin management planning under the WFD include: 1) characterization and classification of water bodies (i.e., how healthy are Irish waters?), 2) definition of significant water pressures (e.g., agriculture, forestry, septic tanks), 3) enhancement of measures for designated protected areas, 4) establishment of objectives for all surface and ground waters, and 5) inte- grating these critical steps into a comprehensive and coherent river basin management plan and associated programme of measures. A parallel WFD implementation programme critically depends on an effective environmental management system (EMS) approach with a plan-do-check-act cycle applied to each of the evolving six-year plans. The proactive involvement of stakeholders and the general public is a key element of this EMS approach.

Preparing the ground for marine spatial planning in Ireland

Marine spatial planning (MSP) is advocated as a means of managing human uses of the sea in a manner that is consistent with the maintenance of the ecological goods and services of the marine environment. The adoption of a system of MSP is seen as urgent in the face of ever-increasing demands on marine resources. This is particularly so in Ireland with its extensive seas, belatedly being recognised as a significant development resource. MSP is promoted by the European Commission (EC) in a recent Green Paper to which Member States of the Union, including Ireland, generally have responded positively. Arising from this consultative process, the EC has published the ‘Blue Book’ that commits support for MSP. It has also issued guidelines for an integrated approach to maritime policy. The recently adopted EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive strengthens the case for implementing MSP as it requires each Member State to develop a strategy for its marine resources. There is evidence that a diverse range of stakeholders at national and local levels in Ireland are positively disposed toward MSP but no practical manifestation of the concept is in place, though some preparatory work is

P02-166 - Mental health policy and planning in Ireland

IntroductionAlthough the world is suffering from an increasing burden of mental disorders, budgets allocated for mental health in the majority of countries make up a relatively small proportion of total health expenditures.ObjectivesTo review the mental health situation in Ireland with regards to mental health Policy and Planning through review of relevant literature.AimTo assess the extent of mental health problems in Ireland and discuss the obstacles and priorities in Mental Health Policy and Planning to achieving good mental health in Ireland.MethodologyTo review available hardcopy and internet literature since WHO 2001 health report regarding current mental health situation, issues that are significant obstacles to implementation of mental health policy and what should be prioritised in order to achieve good mental health in Ireland.ResultsIn Ireland 24-25% of the population develop mental health problems at some point but only 7% of the health budget is allocated to mental health services. Mental health services are not equitable. There is a need for reorganisation of services and transitional funding. There are human resource shortages and lack of transparency and accountability especially around past expenditures.ResultsThe core problem with mental health services in Ireland is an increasingly shrinking budget with poor financial administration consistent with lack of or inadequate implementation of mental health policy. The stumbling block in mental health policy implementation is the lack of a clear authority with defined responsibility for overall mental health policy and budgetary matters.

Conference report: Unequal Places: The 2009 UK–Ireland Planning Research Conference

Conference report: <i>Unequal Places: The 2009 UK–Ireland Planning Research Conference</i>