Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 24 May 2017

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs

Sustaining Viable Rural Communities: Discussion (Resumed)

2:10 pm

Photo of Michael CollinsMichael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their attendance. They have given us an insight into the planning process. Having been a councillor in south-west Cork prior to being elected to the Dáil, as well as being a community activist, has given me experience in dealing with planning issues. Many young people in the scenic areas of west Cork were unable to get planning permission for a house on their parents' land because of the beauty of where they live. That should not prevent anybody from getting planning permission.

In the course of writing an article for a newspaper, I was looking at the census of population breakdown in the district electoral divisions, DEDs, for my own community. It paints a picture of the challenge we face. The reason for that challenge is that successive Governments have decided that rural Ireland is not a place to do business. Our roads are in a scandalous condition and young people cannot get planning permission. Quite a number of people have come to a place as beautiful as west Cork and want to set up a business but are faced with a seven-year residential rule, which has been challenged. Our European advisers have been told that such a residency condition is no longer legally correct. Of the six DEDs in my community, there has been a population drop of 2.2% in Crookhaven, a decrease in population of 13.1% in Dunbeacon, no change in Dunmanus, a decrease of 10.5% in Goleen and a decrease of 7.7% in Lowertown, where I live. There was an increase of 1.6% in Toormore, giving a population decrease of 5.4% in our community. That is the second consecutive census in which we have had a population decrease. We are finding it very difficult. We have lost two of the three banks in the peninsula, and the nearest bank is 20 miles away. We have lost our Garda stations and our post offices are on the verge of closure if the Government has its way. There is a complete lack of thinking on how we could turn this situation around. Some of my neighbours travel to Cork, a 120 km journey on shocking roads but more people are travelling from Cork to work in Dublin, a journey of 251 km on a beautiful road. I enjoy the benefit of that road. There has been no focus on improving our roads. People could commute from west Cork to Cork city, as employment has picked up in the city, but unfortunately not in rural areas.

A businessman who has lived in Ballydehob for the past four years came to my constituency office. He will be refused planning permission because he is not a local. That is a ridiculous rule. That rule has been challenged in Europe and it looks as if it will have to go and I would like the witnesses to comment on that. A young man in Kinsale wants to design a house that is the exact same as all his neighbours, but he has been refused as the regulations and guidelines have changed. His plans will have to be changed so that his house will be different from all the other houses that surround it. We talk about bad planning decisions in rural areas, I go out by the canal on my way home every Thursday evening and I look at this monstrosity-----

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