Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

All in this House will agree that Ireland has a housing problem. Many constituents call to my constituency office to complain that they cannot get planning permission to build their dream house because of local needs. If one looks at the advertising in newspapers, the first thing one sees is "subject to planing permission" and then the dreaded words "local needs". I do not think it is fair to stop people living in the countryside. People nowadays will commute to the nearby towns and cities. I live in County Louth, where a home house has to be within a certain radius of the site. In my neighbouring county, County Monaghan, they cannot wait to get people to come and live in the countryside. My questions to the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, are whether we can get rid of local needs provisions and whether we are breaking European law by using the words "local needs".

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