Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I have grouped my amendments into about six similar subgroups. That would make it much more manageable. Amendment No. 30 is for the purposes of definition. It relates to the issue of the threat the language is under in Gaeltacht areas due to planning failures, with Irish-language speakers not being able to find somewhere to live in their Gaeltacht communities, which is very serious. Yesterday, I went through the example of a physiotherapist who speaks the language in a Gaeltacht area and got a job in the local medical centre in the Gaeltacht area with a much-needed skill in that area. I am using the example of Adhna Ní Bhraonáin in An Spidéal. She ended up living out of a van, not being able to prepare food or to take showers. It was incredibly frustrating for her. This is absolutely a planning issue. She stated:

I looked online to see if there was anything available to rent. There was nothing. There were hundreds of Airbnbs but no one willing to provide a place for long-term rental.

She went on to say it was really galling to see houses advertised for sale in that area but clearly being pitched as holiday homes. She stated:

That was infuriating. People with heaps of money who just want holiday homes should not be able to just come in and buy them.

That was while someone with skills in the area was not able to buy them.

Deputy Ó Snodaigh referred to work that was done showing the prevalence of holiday homes, many of which are empty for much of the year in some of these Gaeltacht areas. In Galway, in Binn an Choire, 39% of houses are holiday homes. It is a planning failure to have empty homes for much of the year and not have housing available for Irish-language speakers in Gaeltacht areas. In Cloch na Rón, 48% of homes are holiday homes. In Dooega, County Mayo, 43% of homes are holiday homes, many of which are empty for most of the year. In Gaoth Dobhair, County Donegal, 57% of homes are holiday homes while in Ros Goill, 58% are holiday homes. In Kerry, in Baile an Sceilg, an area I know well, 55% of the homes are holiday homes. In Cathair Dónall, 58% are holiday homes while in Doire Fhíonáin, 65% are holiday homes. As I said before, some of those holiday homes would have Irish-language speakers in them, but many are English-language speakers. I do not advocate for a second to say one cannot have English-language speakers in Gaeltacht communities, or holiday homes or short-term lets, but this is an issue.

Planning failures have meant that people with the language in the Gaeltacht area are not able to get housing. This is undermining both the local community, since it is not able to get people with skills such as physiotherapists and so on to live in the community and the viability of these Gaeltacht areas. The Gaeltacht Act 2012 put forward much policy in this area. When we discussed previous amendments on this, the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, put forward the case about the issuance of guidelines and how this would potentially resolve many of the issues that we are raising about Gaeltacht areas. I ask the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, to tell us about this. We were promised more than two years ago that these guidelines would be out. We were told by the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, that when they come out, they will be draft guidelines and will need to go through consultation. That is all fine but can the Minister tell us when these guidelines will be out?

Guidelines were issued by the Department in 2022 that make reference to mandatory objectives for Gaeltacht areas. Much of what is in this is quite strong but has not been followed strongly enough. We have a housing crisis and planning crisis in these communities, which is undermining their viability with regard to the language and our cultural and linguistic heritage. That is why there is a strong case for putting forward legislative provisions. Not only have the draft guidelines that have been promised for years not yet been issued, the guidelines that have been in place to date, even though they have some strength of language to them, have been insufficient. There is a strong case for having strong legislative provisions in this planning Bill to bring us into line with Acht na Gaeltachta, 2012.

As I said, I will return to my other amendments, but amendment No. 30 is for the purposes of definition.