Conor McGuinness (Waterford, Sinn Fein)

Gabhaim buíochas as ucht an ráiteas. I thank Mr. O'Brien for his opening statement and for attending this committee meeting. I have spoken to the Minister about this at length in my capacity as rural development spokesperson for my party, Sinn Féin, and I have raised it on the floor of the Dáil. There was a missed opportunity in 2001 to 2005 in Our Rural Future, notwithstanding some of the really solid proposals that were in it and the progress on some of the objectives contained within the plan, in that it left out housing. Housing is mentioned in the document but one could not say it is featured in it in any great sense. From my conversations, in particular with people of my age, but with all age groups living in rural Ireland, the single biggest threat to the future of rural communities is housing, the inability of people to build homes in the areas in which they grew up and in which they wish to raise their families, and the inability to get anything resembling an affordable home in a rural community. There is a particularly pronounced manifestation of the housing crisis, especially in coastal rural communities, and I am thinking about my own area in County Waterford, but this is replicated all around our coastline, where the increased demand for holiday homes and investment properties that are then used as short-term lets on online platforms interferes with the regular market price. I understand that these matters are the responsibility of the housing Department and the housing Minister. I am also concerned about the pace at which social housing has been developed or, in many cases, has not been developed in rural communities, but rather in towns and cities, where it is painfully slow. These are the big issues that need to feature in the new plan.

I have been thinking about this an awful lot. A rural development policy and strategy are quite rightly being developed by a section in the Department and the Minister, Deputy Calleary, but in my opinion and that of many people to whom I speak, the greatest single input is housing. The plan needs to be co-authored by the Minister for housing because the existential crisis for rural communities is the lack of suitable housing for local people. I understand the Minister has formally met with the Minister for housing to discuss these issues, and I welcome that. I asked the Minister, Deputy Calleary, earlier this year if he had met the Minister for housing but at that point he had not. I put the question to him again last week and he told me that he had had several engagements, and that is very welcome. There should, however, be a level of co-ownership with the Minister for housing when it comes to the rural strategy.

To what extent is the Department engaging with officials in the Department of housing, outside of ministerial meetings, to tackle these issues? I am thinking particularly of guidelines for rural planning and increased funding for local authorities that are dealing with additional costs for infrastructure in rural areas and for building. Another critical issue holding back development is the Gaeltacht planning guidelines. To what extent will housing be front and centre in this policy document?