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

I am pleased to have an opportunity to speak on this very important housing matter. There is a large cohort of young people in Kerry who cannot get planning permission to build close to their family homes because of a thing called an urban-generated pressure clause. That clause is there to prevent people from coming out from towns and building in rural areas, but it is affecting people in rural areas as well. If one is not a son or daughter of a local, one cannot buy a site. People cannot get planning permission next door to their family home if the land is not owned by their family. That is a serious issue.

Levies are now so high that they have become an exorbitant cost. In the case of the county council levies, rural people are being asked to pay for amenities in urban areas. That is wrong. The levies being imposed by Irish Water and the VAT charges are making up more than one third of the cost of building a house. This is ruling many young couples out of being able to build their own home, which is what they want to do.

It has been mentioned before that many of our towns and villages do not have sewerage schemes or do not have adequate schemes. In my county, Currow has no sewerage scheme, and Scartaglin, Brosna and Caherdaniel are some of the many places in trouble in this regard. Even if somebody wanted to build a development in Kenmare, it would not be possible to do so because the sewerage scheme is not adequate.

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