Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I would be very happy to discuss it with the Deputy and go through all of that. With regard to one-off housing, this legislation probably came a little late for the planning framework development for Project Ireland 2040. We tried to honour the spirit of the law. We discussed it in this House and at committees, including the Joint Committee on Rural and Community Development and the Joint Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government. We discussed at length the issue of one-off housing. If one takes a particular year in Galway, 77% of the houses built in Galway in one year were one-off houses. That is not sustainable and it is not good for rural Ireland. It is about allowing the people who want to build and have a right to build their houses but one cannot have it for every building in the country because that would not protect the country or make it sustainable. This is about getting the balance right. That is what we are trying to do. That discussion was separate from this. I want to clarify that we are not capping or restricting one-off housing in rural Ireland. We changed the wording to reflect the necessity for economic needs and social needs to continue building one-off housing. Members of this House and councillors requested that we change that wording and we clearly changed it. Please do not misinterpret what is in Project Ireland 2040.

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