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

I am glad to get the opportunity to talk about affordable housing because it is a very serious problem. There are many young couples watching us this evening who are wondering if they will ever be able to put a roof over their heads. It is a natural desire for any couple or young person to put a roof over their heads and to own their home but it is becoming increasingly difficult because of the cost of materials and the difficulties with securing planning permission in rural areas, especially in rural parts of Kerry.

I spoke earlier about difficulties with designations that are applied on the insistence of the regulator and the planning authorities which must be adhered to by the local authorities. One problem is the urban generated pressure clause which was designed, wrongly, to stop people coming out from towns and villages and building in rural areas. It is also wrong because it stops a local person in the area from getting planning permission because such permission will only be granted to the landowner's son or daughter. That clause is wrong because people should be entitled to get planning permission to build where they want to build their permanent residence. I would not mind a clause being put on them if they got the permission and they would not mind it either. That is one of the issues.

The regulator is blocking people from getting planning permission in other rural areas and insisting that permission not be granted in different places. Then, when planning is granted by Kerry County Council some nasty individual appeals the decision to An Bord Pleanála, as An Taisce has done many times, making life miserable for many families. Kerry County Council grants the permission, someone appeals it to An Bord Pleanála and even though the inspector who comes down agrees with the local authority, lo and behold, when the decision goes back to An Bord Pleanála it is refused for some reason and the couple or young person are denied the planning permission they should have got.

I agree with previous speakers on sewerage and water facilities. In Kerry, we have 32 villages without a sewerage facility. Places like Scartaglin, Curragh, Asdee, Caherdaniel and Ballinskellligs cannot expand or grow because they do not have a sewerage facility. As has been said, the Government and the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications will have to step in and assist Irish Water because it does not have the funds to put all these schemes in place. All that Irish Water is compelled and liable to do is maintain the facilities that are there already and it is put to the pin of its collar doing that. In places like Kenmare or Castleisland, people can get planning permission for a development but they cannot build the houses until the sewerage schemes are put in place, extended and expanded. Some 17 towns and villages are waiting on plans to rejuvenate and bring their sewerage schemes up to standard.

The regulator is continuously interfering with zoning and it is dezoning lands. We have Ministers saying they want to build affordable houses. How can housing and affordable housing be built if most of the land in any one settlement is being dezoned? In most cases, the regulator will only allow one plot of land in each settlement to be zoned. That is wrong because it gives the individual in question or the side of the village or town where the plot a monopoly and the owner can charge what he or she likes. We are talking about affordability but that is out the window when there is no competition for prices.

As I have said previously, we should zone plenty of land and let the market decide where the houses will be built. Alternatively, we should not zone any land and let every planning application be decided either by the local authority or An Bord Pleanála, depending on its size. If we forgot about zoning, it would be way fairer as it would allow single applicants to buy a site close to the village or town and build on it because the land would not have to be zoned, as it must be at present. I had a case recently involving a young couple in a small village who applied for planning permission outside of the village and they were refused because the land was not zoned. They could not buy a site in the little village or town because it was not available. The Ministers have to wake up to these facts.

I heard Deputy Naughten talking about building social housing or two-bedroom bungalows for older people. I would like to take him down to Rathmore in Kerry where Jerh O'Donoghue and the Rathmore Social Action Group have been successfully housing elderly couples and even single people for years. The group should be complimented, especially Mr. O'Donoghue on the foresight and vision he had in what he has done and what he is continuing to do with his team around him. I also compliment Michael Cronin of Thermohouse Ireland on the great work it is doing in building voluntary social housing in Killarney, Milltown and different towns and villages. I also compliment KPH Construction, which is doing much the same in Barraduff. It deserves credit for the high standard of houses it is building.

On felling licences, we hear about the increased cost of materials and timber, which is going up and up. Anyone who wants timber to build a house in Kerry must wait for six weeks for delivery and suppliers will not know or cannot tell people what the price will be until they land with the timber because it is going up and up in price and is being imported. At the same time, in Germany and other countries, no felling licence is required because when someone plants forestry it is recognised that it will have to be cut down at some stage. If people were granted permission to plant forestry, they should not need a felling licence, either to thin or clearfell it at any time. The quicker we realise that, the better because our forestry industry has gone down the swanny. Job after job is being lost and contractors that had specialised gear and equipment for cutting and drawing out timber, including forwarders and all those kind of things, have either gone to Scotland or they have gone bust. The Government will have to wake up to the fact that this is happening. I hope it is listening because it is a serious matter. More things are being lost during the reign of this Government than during any previous Government, and this is one of the most serious of them.

On the tenant purchase scheme, a number of years ago, people could rent out a council house and after a year or two or a number of years, they were entitled to purchase it under a scheme. Some 80% of the applicants to the scheme are being refused. The Government needs to look at that scheme because it was an important and valuable one. People got on their feet after renting for a certain number of years and they were able to purchase their house. They are being denied that option that was in place all the years past. That money was used to do up voids. We have 162 voids in Kerry because the county council has no funds to bring them up to the standard that is required. That is a very serious matter and if the Government is talking about affordable houses and all of that, it has to look at all of those things.

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