Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the president of Macra na Feirme and wish her the best in her term. It is a great honour to be president of that great organisation and I congratulate her. I also thank the other farming organisations for attending. I will start with the young farmer profile. Young farmers up to the age of 35 are incentivised to apply for targeted agriculture modernisation scheme, TAMS, grants. They are also incentivised to renew the family farm as best they can. This is around the same age bracket as when many people apply for planning permission to build a family house in anticipation of starting a family. At that stage in life, people have enormous expenses and pressures. A young farmer may have the pressure of the deadline for the TAMS grant because of the age profile required for it, coupled with the pressure of building a house and starting a family. Those issues are very intense during that period. This can also often involve two families living off the holding during that time. The younger generation is under huge pressures and we need to offer various supports. The idea of renewal, be it of family farms or rural Ireland in general, is really important. We need to figure out how we can work with the relevant entities to ensure the taxation and grant issues are addressed. This will help the younger people through the intense ten-year period I referred to. What does the Ms Houlihan think can be done to help that generation of farmers?

Regarding the grants that are available for housing, this forum is very important. Information needs to be got out there because I am always amazed at the number of people who listen to these debates. The grants being made available for derelict housing are amazing. There is up to €70,000 available, plus another €28,000 in SEAI grants. To renovate a house someone can obtain almost €100,000. In my clinic in Bandon two weeks ago, I had a couple who were intending to build a one-off rural house, something similar to what was described earlier. They were in their 30s and getting married in Clonakilty at the end of the month. They had a derelict house on the farm which now has the potential to draw down €100,000. They have actually withdrawn their planning permission application because it is more financially viable to look at the other options. Is there a need for the farming organisations to start talking about these grants and what this positive development could mean for rural Ireland? It could be the game changer.

Instead of going for a long drawn-out planning process, the principle of a house and a site is already set out. A structure with a roof is exempt from planning, as is a structure at the back of the house of less than 40 sq. m in area. All of these are part of the planning process. Is education through the farming organisations required to look at these issues?

In my part of the world in Cork development charges are paid on wastewater, water, public lighting, public footpaths and rail. They are only paid if they are applicable. There are scenarios where people have been charged for services that are not there but it does not happen in my county. People pay for public amenities and roads for a one-off rural house but the other payments are not applicable. This information needs to be put out there so those who are listening in know exactly what is required.

The €100,000 that has been thrown on the table for a person to look at the possibility of renovating a property, whether they want to let it out or have it as a principal private residence, is significant. There is €28,000 for the energy grant. This is the added bonus. Those going for one-off rural houses do not get this.

The CEO of Macra na Feirme mentioned holiday homes. We had a wonderful opportunity to welcome Macra na Feirme to Bantry at the weekend. There was a wonderful AGM and I thank Macra na Feirme for coming to Cork to show off that wonderful occasion. We need a debate on holiday homes. They need to be discussed. It is not very popular to look at what holiday homes give to rural communities. I have previously mentioned a village in west Cork that has Saturday night fever whereby people go for a Saturday night and then leave again. They bring their shopping with them. They are of benefit to only one pub for one night and then they go home. This happens over three or four months of the year. We have an issue in how we address this. To get planning permission in rural areas of Cork people need to be from the area, they must have a housing need and they need a suitable site.

Being from the area is defined by the school catchment area. This is a debate we need to have. Someone suggested leaving it wide open. If we had a planning system that was wide open then everyone from Blackrock in Dublin or another location would be coming down to buy a house as a summer home. That would do nothing for the local area. They would displace Macra na Feirme members who wanted to buy a site and who would be outgunned by a professional with finance behind them. This is a very difficult debate about trying to work out where we will go forward. There is a lot of work for younger farmers and younger people given the time limit for grants and how they manage in that period of time. I am 46 years of age and I have come out of it a little bit but I know where I was a decade ago when there were two families on the holding, one a young family with a mortgage. We need to do work to make sure it is right. We have to look at the holiday homes scenario. It is unpopular to do so but it needs to be worked on.

Another issue is the grant. In my time in public life, I have never seen a grant of €100,000. This is a real driver for people to get moving on these properties. I believe the dereliction figures are correct. Innishannon is a lovely little village outside of Cork. There were 18 empty houses there last Saturday. That is nuts. There are issues with inheritance and title deeds. Until the local authority steps into the remit regarding how to clean up these sites we will have issues with dereliction. There is a real challenge here. The money is on the table and we just need to make sure we get movement on it.

Something I did not mention is the issue relating to labour. All of the money in the world is worth nothing unless we can get tradesmen to deliver it on the ground. I have seen it in my parish where very good plumbers and electricians, who are probably in their 30s, have been soaked up by multinationals. They are headhunted because they are competent and capable. We lose these guys who have worked in the trade for ten years and who now, at the age of 31 and 32, are working in Ringaskiddy. That is also nuts. All of the money in the world will not deliver housing if we do not have tradesmen on the ground. This is a global issue. Housing is not only an issue in west Cork. It is also in London and all over the world. There is not a city, province or area in the world that is not affected by the housing issue. How we deal with the shortage of labour will be a big issue for global society.