Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In Wexford, we are going through the development plan at the moment. Wexford County Council is one of the first in this regard. In Wexford, but also in many local authority areas, there is concern over rural planning. My argument is essentially that the difficulty for the Office of the Planning Regulator is its interpretation of "local rural area". There is a legitimate fear in many rural communities that the office does not understand the nature of local rural settlements. The submission the office would have made to Wexford County Council, for instance, was effectively interpreted as stopping all one-off rural housing because it meant small villages and rural nodes would be impacted if we allowed rural development. The concern is really that the Office of the Planning Regulator may not understand rural settlement patterns. One of the difficulties in many villages is that there are no water and wastewater facilities. This means there is no possibility of building in such a village. Also, the land may not become available where families have land in rural areas. What I am looking for is an assurance from Mr. Cussen that where a family is living in a rural community, the Office of the Planning Regulator is not going to stop them from being able to apply for planning permission in the area.

The second question, concerning the impact of planning on rural communities, is on the inadequacy of water and wastewater infrastructure. How does Mr. Cussen's office work with Irish Water in addressing some of those concerns?

Third, many of these spatial strategies were designed before this pandemic. The pandemic has resulted in a huge shift in working patterns. There will be much greater emphasis on remote working. It points to a possibility that will help to sustain many provincial towns and villages. In light of that and the Government's commitment to remote working, is there not now a need to review all the spatial strategies, especially in terms of how we can support our towns and villages?