Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Táim bródúil as mo chomhghleacaí gur glacadh leis an reachtaíocht anseo le cur os comhair na Dála anocht. Tá ard-mholadh tuillte ag an Teachta Martin Kenny as a saothar agus as an obair atá sé ag déanamh ar an cheist seo le blianta anuas ar son muintir na tuaithe, go háirithe in iarthar na tíre. As we have heard, this is vital legislation. The amendment, if enacted, would have the effect of removing an unfair obstacle currently placed before many people who are simply attempting to obtain planning permission in their own communities and rural areas. We are not talking about large property developers, speculators or individuals who are hoping to make a killing out of housing development. As Deputy Martin Kenny has outlined, we are talking about genuine people in rural communities who want to build according to the county development plan and building standards in their own communities. They are being prevented from doing so by something which was not foreseen, and not intended, to have the consequences it has today and has had for quite a number of years now. We are talking about ordinary people, hard-working people who have, perhaps, grown up in rural communities and want nothing more than to build a home in which to live and raise their families. That is what this is about. That is what Deputy Martin Kenny's legislation is about. It is about supporting those families and ensuring that they can live in their communities.

The implications of the zero discharge rule have prevented these people from building a place to call home in rural Ireland. This problem is particularly acute in counties throughout the north west and west of our island, areas which have for far too long suffered from depopulation and rural decline due in no small part to existing rural planning laws. The attacks on rural Ireland in recent years have been relentless. We have seen successive Governments not only failing to protect these communities from attacks but, in many instances, actually being responsible for them. Just this week my own community in Bunbeg, An Bun Beag, has suffered another attack. It has been the victim of another assault on the village - the closure of the local post office. It is not alone, however. That assault has been witnessed in many areas across rural Donegal and the west of Ireland. We need an end to this Government's policy of death by a thousand cuts to rural Ireland.

Separately it is worth mentioning, as part of tonight's debate, the current process by which areas are designated as special areas of conservation, SACs, special protection areas, SPAs, and areas of natural constraint, ANCs, in a bid to restore and maintain our favourable conservation of habitats and species by restricting certain human activities. This needs to be looked at. It too has resulted in large swathes or rural Ireland being "no go" areas for development. While no one is saying that our natural environment, flora or fauna should not be protected - in fact it is crucial that they are - it is clear that the needs and interests of rural communities must not be discarded when legislators are formulating laws concerning planning and development.

I will also make the following point to the Minister. It is something I have raised with his officials and with planners in my own county of Donegal. I refer to the golden handcuffs that are placed on some individuals who have developed land, whether by constructing houses, placing mobile homes or extending a house, in an SAC. When they have done so there is no ability to apply for retention permission. In this situation planners are forced to demand the removal of such development.

In some cases, they even demand the demolition of homes. This is not right. There is a lacuna in the law and these golden handcuffs need to be dealt with. This legislation will enable rural people to live and work in their own communities and in doing so, it will ensure that rural tradition and the way of life in rural Ireland, which we know only too well, will continue and thrive into the future. I ask Deputies to support the legislation and oppose the Government's amendment, which is nothing but a deferral that kicks the can down the road. Rural Ireland has waited for long enough for this issue to be dealt with. Now we have a practical solution from Deputy Martin Kenny, who deserves our praise and support. I urge Deputies to stand with Deputy Martin Kenny, rural Ireland and the rural communities that can be found the length and breadth of this State that are suffering as a result of the rule currently in place.

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