Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

We have a problem in that many people cannot get planning permission because of designations. In a case in Belgium seven or eight years ago, the judge decided it was wrong to have designations blocking people from getting planning permission. That judgment is there and it will be contested at some stage by someone. The Government is leaving itself open to that. There is a problem in weaker rural areas. In the case of my own road from Loo Bridge to Morley's Bridge, which is 4 or 5 miles long, there were 16 or 17 families living there but now one cannot get permission to build. In the case of one of those families, there were 16 reared in a cottage on an acre. That is the gospel truth. One cannot get permission to build along that road now because it is part of a designated disadvantaged area, whereas the other side of the road is stronger. It is in the Government guidelines that the designated disadvantaged areas have to be taken together. That is what is wrong. There are another couple of townlands up the Shandrum Road where there were 24 families living. People cannot get planning permission in those places and no one can come in and build there. A lot of people are being told that they can work from home but it is not possible to get planning permission for sites in those places.

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