Ireland's Regional Development Monitor

The Eurostat Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) sees Ireland broken into three NUTS2 categories: Northern & Western, Southern, and Eastern & Midland. Each of these regions have Assemblies of elected members nominated from the 31 local authorities Ireland. Two of the primary roles of each Assembly is the management of EU funding and on matters related to spatial planning and economic developments for their region.

With this second function in mind, each of Ireland's three Regional Assemblies' members makes and coordinates the implementation of a Regional Spatial and Economic Strategy (RSES). In accordance with national legislation, this sets out a long-term vision for how the region will grow, change and respond to key trends and opportunities in a way that achieves the best outcomes and maximises benefits throughout the region. In doing this, it identifies regional priorities, policies, targets and objectives, and sets out the investment priorities on which to advocate. Each Regional Assembly must review its RSES every six years. Ultimately, the respective Strategies support the implementation of the National Planning Framework (NPF) along with the relevant economic policies and objectives of the national Government. It further seeks to help meet the ambition for better regional development set out in Project Ireland 2040.

The RDM Indicators relate to Key Regional Strategic Outcomes and related socio-economic and environmental data sources across four themes, including

• Our People and Place (demographic change, housing completions and vacancy, housing supports, transport, health)
• Our Green and Sustainable Future (renewable energy developments, greenhouse gas emissions, water quality and wastewater compliance)
• Our Region's Economy (labour force statistics, foreign direct investment, life-long learning, affluence and disadvantage)
• An all-Island Perspective.

This data hub and its publicly accessible dashboards provide a monitoring system and an online mapping viewer for key indicators of progress towards more balanced regional development. The new national mapping and visualisation infrastructures afforded by the RDM are also of wider utility, assisting national government departments on their policy-making, local authorities and planners in the preparation and implementation of city and county development plans, as well as supporting other policy makers, researchers and members of the public in gaining a greater knowledge, and consideration, of the social, economic and environmental trends to make more assured and real-time evidenced decisions.

Colin Bray, CEO of Ordnance Survey Ireland spoke of the unique and added value of the RDM during the launch, noting “the Regional Development Monitor is an excellent example of collaboration between public sector agencies and aligns with the Public Service Data Strategy in how the State improves how we govern, manage and re-use data in a secure, efficient, and transparent way, for the benefit of citizens, businesses and policy makers. Positioning GeoHive at the core of this project is a great news story for the OSI.”

The innovativeness and excellence of the Regional Development Monitor in Irish Planning was recognised at the Irish Planning Institute’s Planning Awards in Clontarf Castle on 28^th September 2023. The Regional Assemblies were joint winners under the Research and Innovation category for the RDM.