Michael Moynihan
Question:9. Deputy Michael Moynihan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his plans in relation to the provision of one-off housing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15709/24]
View answerThursday, 11 April 2024
Questions (9)
Oral answers (7 contributions)
We need to focus minds and attention on the issue of one-off housing in rural Ireland. Before the lights go out on the current Government, I would like to see some commitment and clarity on our plans and proposals for one-off rural housing. Will the Minister make a statement on this?
I thank Deputy Flaherty. Updated rural housing guidelines are being prepared to expand on national policy objective 19 of the national planning framework, which makes a policy distinction between rural areas under urban influence on the one hand and structurally weaker rural areas where population levels may be low or declining on the other. Under the national planning framework, considerations of social or economic need are to be applied by planning authorities in rural areas under urban influence. The draft guidelines will set out relevant planning criteria to be applied in development plans for rural housing based on the considerations detailed in NPO 19 of the national planning framework and will highlight the need to manage development in certain areas, such as the areas around cities and larger towns and environmentally sensitive areas, to avoid overdevelopment.
Due care is being taken to ensure the updated guidelines will not conflict with fundamental EU freedoms and will comply with EU environmental legislation and decisions of the European Court of Justice. The guidelines will address these complex issues while also providing a framework for the sustainable management of housing in rural areas. The draft guidelines are subject to legal review and, following my approval, the draft guidelines will be published for a period of public consultation.
I welcome the update on the draft guidelines for rural one-off housing. The landscape has changed significantly for rural housing because we have had fundamental issues with regard to construction costs, material costs and the cost of building in rural Ireland. It might be much more prohibitive to build a house in rural Ireland, particularly a one-off house, than what is in the guidelines. I would welcome if the Minister of State were able to give some indication that he is cognisant of the significant ramping-up of the cost of building a house in rural Ireland and that some acknowledgement of this would be made.
We have a significant challenge, notwithstanding the success of the much-acclaimed Croí Cónaithe scheme. We have a challenge with getting more people living in rural Ireland, where schools and communities are under challenge. We need to make it much easier and much more accessible to live in rural Ireland. When we get these guidelines, they need to have meat and teeth. They need to make it not only aspirational but tangible for people to live in a house they own on their own ground in rural Ireland.
I thank Deputy Flaherty. With regard to the question posed, the national planning framework supports new housing in rural areas and rural development generally. We have seen over the past 30 years that, in general, 25% of new rural housing has been constructed across all housing developments. There is no cap or ban on the granting of planning permission for new homes in rural areas. Certainly the planning authorities provide certain targets for new housing as part of the statutory development plan process, including rural areas outside of towns and villages. I am certainly cognisant of the need to ensure we continue to meet the needs of rural areas to support local schools and GAA clubs to ensure we have vibrant communities. Certainly planning comes up again and again. I welcome that there will be rural housing guidelines. I know the Minister is committed to this and we want to see them published after public consultation.
I thank the Minister of State. I look forward to the new guidelines. I appreciate there is no ban or cap as such on building in rural Ireland but there is a complicity of issues. Notwithstanding planning regulations, the issue of the cost of building a house in rural Ireland is something we do need to look at and address. Croí Cónaithe exempts people from some of the challenges and they get grant of approximately €103,000 if they also access the SEAI grant. We need to look at some type of incentive for people who are going to the effort of building a house in rural Ireland. They are making a lifetime investment. Invariably they are going to build a house the value of which they will never actually realise. As a Government committed to and rooted in rural Ireland, we need to look at making it advantageous for people to build houses there.
Deputy Dillon is the fourth Minister of State since 2018 to stand up in the House and read out almost exactly the same script. It is an open secret, and this will be of value to Deputy Flaherty, that the guidelines have been ready and complete for at least two if not three Ministers of State, but for reasons of political controversy they are not being published. We will not see the guidelines, I wager, this side of the local elections and I am not convinced we will see them this side of a general election either. Like Deputy Flaherty, I believe they should be published. There should be public consultation. When Deputy Flaherty is promoting the great success of the Croí Cónaithe refurbishment grant scheme, he should also inform his constituents that guidelines which should have been published years ago are being sat on in the Department of housing in the Custom House because Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are too cowardly to publish them and let the public see what is being proposed. If I am wrong, the Minister of State, Deputy Dillon, will be the first Minister of State since 2018 to prove me wrong.
I thank the Deputies. To answer Deputy Flaherty, we are all conscious of the increase in the cost of building materials due to external factors, including the war in Ukraine and inflationary measures. It certainly is a significant barrier. If we look at the number of approvals of new developments, the planning system in Ireland continues to deliver substantial planning permission for new homes every year in Ireland, with 10,573 planning applications submitted in 2023. The number of planning permissions granted for one-off housing in 2021 was 7,499. It was 6,924 in 2022 and 5,032 in 2023. We are seeing one-off housing being constructed in all rural areas.
Certainly, we cannot rest on our laurels. The draft guidelines have to be formed through due process involving legal review and ministerial approval. On the finalisation of the draft guidelines, they will be published. They will be focused on a public consultation process. It is the ambition of this Government to publish them at some point.
Questions Nos. 10 and 11 taken with Written Answers.