Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Independent) | Oireachtas source

One of the most contentious issues which I deal with in my constituency office concerns planning, and particularly those people looking to build in their home parishes. The opinion now seems to be that county councils, and Louth County Council in particular, do not want any one-off housing construction to take place. The current Louth county development plan severely curtails one-off housing. I completely understand the rationale behind the idea that it would be better for people to live in large urban areas, where services such as schools, shops and hospitals are more readily available. We must also understand, however, that people who are born and raised in certain areas would like to aspire to move back there, once they are in a position to do so. The situation in Louth now is so bad that many people are simply giving up on their dreams to live in the area or parish where they were raised. This is wrong.

It is also wrong that planning regulations do not allow so-called "outsiders" to apply for planning permission to build their homes in an area in which they would like to settle. I reiterate that this is one of the most contentious issues I deal with in my constituency office. Young people who are born and raised in local areas, such as Cooley, Kilkerley, Roche, Knockbridge, Dromiskin and Haggardstown, to name just a few areas, are now effectively being prohibited from living there through no fault of their own. One young couple told me recently that they feel these regulations are an infringement of their human rights to live in an area.

A great many issues need to be dealt with in this area. How is it right that the planning regulations can stop people living in an area they choose? I have great reservations about this aspect. If this was challenged in the courts, I wonder would it stand up to such scrutiny. I am sure many of my colleagues in this House are of the same opinion. As it stands, young couples are effectively being forced to move away from their home parish or area. County development plans, and in particular the proposed Louth county development plan, must be challenged and opened to more scrutiny. Many issues regarding those development plans need to be debated.

We have a situation now where one-off housing is being stopped in County Louth. However, if we look around the country, we see there is still investment in rural schools and services. How does this make sense? We are investing in rural schools and services. In 20 years' time, however, if these county development plans are allowed to come to pass, we will have no young families and no children to attend these rural schools or avail of any of these rural services.

Another aspect completely overlooked is that of local GAA, soccer and athletic clubs. How are those organisations going to survive if there are no children in the area? How is this right? The bottom line is that we need a more joined-up approach. At this rate, we are going to decimate the rural areas, not only of County Louth, but of all counties. Imagine having rural areas with no young families. As I said, we continue to invest in rural schools and services and yet the planning regulations want to stop families from living there. What about all-rural credit unions? If there are no rural families, not only will those credit unions disappear, but so too will the local shops. Nobody seems to want to provide a real solution to this situation. All the development plans seem to want to do is to stop one-off housing developments in rural areas. We must look at the knock-on effects of this approach, such as those I referred to regarding rural schools, GAA clubs, soccer clubs, rural credit unions and local shops.

Another area which needs discussion is planning density. In Dundalk, the county council's approach is that density has to reach a certain figure before approval for a development will be considered. I know of a situation where plans were submitted for viable and community-friendly housing developments, but it was advised that planning permission would not be granted unless more housing units were squeezed in. We have seen what happened in Dublin when high-density housing was introduced. Including too many housing units simply does not work.

Another matter which needs discussion is the amount of land zoned for development which will simply never be developed. It is common knowledge in Dundalk that there are situations where land has been zoned for development, but that land will never be developed. County development plans must address these issues. There is no simple solution to these problems. Planning regulations have been too severe in respect of rural Ireland. While I agree there needs to be some form of control of one-off houses, I do not think that having a blanket ban is an answer either. Surely, in this day and age, we can come up with a viable plan so that urban and rural Ireland can develop at a sustainable rate without prohibiting people from returning to the parish in which they were born and raised. This is a serious issue and one which needs further debate and scrutiny.

I will conclude by asking the county councils, and Louth County Council in particular, to have a more joined-up approach when drafting these county development plans. It is an opportunity to bring more life into rural Ireland, rather than sucking the life out of it. If we are serious about protecting rural Ireland, then we must be supportive of the idea that young families cannot be prohibited from moving back to their home parishes or villages. The closing date for submissions in respect of the County Louth development plan is 12 noon on 23 December. I plead with the Minister to intervene, contact Louth County Council and ask for that closing date to be extended. Many people cannot get into county buildings or use the Internet. Most other local authorities are doing what I requested, so I ask the Minister to intervene and ask Louth County Council to extend the deadline.

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