The research explores the relationship between the discipline of spatial planning and wider public policymaking in Ireland across spatial scales, and specifically in this paper, the realities of how planning legislation is conceived, shaped and governed.

The legislative and policy framework for spatial planning in Ireland has recently been reviewed and is subject to change. These changes suggest a shift towards the primary function of planning being concerned with process, and one that is increasingly administrative, technical, and legal in nature. Arguably an emphasis on processes may be to the detriment of the wider, normative, intended policy outcomes which we seek to achieve and which are more closely aligned with the concept of spatial planning.

The literature describes the policy tools of spatial planning as under researched and lacking conceptual clarity. This research seeks to explore recent changes to planning legislation through the lens of procedural and substantive policy tools to understand better the relationship between the function of spatial planning and wider public policymaking in Ireland.

The research uses content analysis to analyse the pre-legislative scrutiny of the Planning and Development Bill 2023 and aims to draw conclusions as to the perceived function of the legislation viewed through the lens of policy tools, which will contribute to the conceptualisation of planning policy tools; the understanding of interaction of procedural and substantive policy tools; and the relationship between the planning system and wider, normative intended public policy outcomes.