Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 3 Jul 2001

Vol. 540 No. 1

Written Answers. - Planning Laws.

Jim O'Keeffe

Ceist:

72 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government his views on whether the planning laws, in so far as they relate to individual private houses, are too restrictive; and if he has proposals for change. [19902/01]

Minister of State at the Department of the Environment and Local Government (Mr. Molloy)

Under planning legislation, each planning authority is obliged to prepare a development plan setting out an overall strategy for the planning and development of its area. Such plans would include the policy of the authority on the provision of one-off single houses. Decisions on individual applications are also a matter for each authority or for An Bord Pleanála in the case of an appeal.

As regards single houses in rural areas, it is essential that the farming community and those working on the land should be able to live in the country. However, a continuation of the current trends in one-off housing, particularly with regard to urban generated development, that is, development by those working in urban areas, will have significant implications in terms of a range of issues such as transport, the possibilities for strengthening many of our towns and villages, landscape and tourism and protection of ground and surface waters. The report, Sustainable Development – A Strategy for Ireland, indicated that, in general, there should be a presumption against urban-generated, one-off rural housing adjacent to towns.

The implications of the current trends in housing in rural areas will be addressed in the preparation of the national spatial strategy. It is my intention to publish shortly proposals for discussion on an approach to promoting more balanced regional development, together with indications of the spatial policies that might be adopted to promote new patterns of development in Ireland over the next 20 years.