Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is a similar situation. In Leitrim approximately 80% of the soil is dense. Anyone who goes to a funeral in County Leitrim and looks into a graveyard can see that six inches down we have good soil but when we look below that we have dog heavy soil. That is what we find in much of County Leitrim. In west Cavan we have a similar situation, but west Cavan has considerable mountainous areas and we do not have as many planning applications, although we have some. It is equally difficult for people to get planning in some parts of west Cavan. There is a similar situation in some parts of Sligo and Donegal. In counties where a lower percentage of the soil is heavy, people have more options to find land that has good enough absorption for building a house. A person could have 40 acres but maybe only an area of three acres has suitable soil. That is where the person will build the house. That option many not be available in large parts of County Leitrim.

If we go back ten or 15 years before these regulations came in, many planning permission applications would have been granted in these areas. They would have used willow beds and reed beds in parts of Cavan, Sligo and other counties.