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

That is so, but An Taisce caused the issue. Kerry County Council, in its wisdom, granted permission. The inspector came down and agreed with that decision. However, the application went back to An Bord Pleanála and was refused. That is where the matter lies. I am sorry that is the case because the people involved are good and hard-working. This is what An Taisce did to them. I do not agree with An Taisce and will never stand with it when it hurts people like that. The people it hurts are human beings. I will never forgive An Taisce for that while there is blood running through my veins.

This Bill amends the Planning and Development Act 2000 to regulate substitute consent procedures for applications regularising existing developments and requiring retrospective environmental impact assessments. It will provide for a single-stage application process. It allows for simultaneous applications for any future development to An Bord Pleanála. These are all going to be referred to An Bord Pleanála, along with substitute consent for all developments. It also allows for the refusal to consider applications for retention of unauthorised developments in certain cases. That is wrong. If we do not allow an applicant the right to due process, it is undemocratic. It is unfair for someone who may be employing people and delivering infrastructure to communities. It would be unfair for someone to be deprived. Who would decide? Is it An Bord Pleanála? Is it the regulator? That is of concern to me. Who is going to make that decision? It is clearly not going to be the local authorities or county councillors. Who is going to make the decision? Will it be some unelected official, as Deputy Mattie McGrath said, in a mansion of an office somewhere but nobody knows where and nobody knows the person or people making the decisions?

I will move on to consider offshore wind turbines and maritime planning. I know the Government is rolling out offshore wind projects on the eastern side of the country. I am far away from those people but I know they are very concerned about what is happening off the coast of Wicklow and Dublin. They have issues and they have not been and will not be heard. This Bill will be rammed through and those people will not be allowed a say. No one will hear their concerns. It will be much the same off the west coast of Kerry where issues also arise. I am not much of a fisherman and I do not know much about the sea but I do know that in all cases, trawlers, boats and fishermen have certain routes through the bay or the ocean because there are impediments of one kind or another. They have their routes in the same way as the planes in the sky have theirs. There is one route and that is the route they have to use for safety and many other reasons. I hope those people will not be infringed upon because they have been hurt enough already.

The Bill also deals with RPZs and Airbnb. It seems to me and many other people that the Government thinks those measures will sort out the housing problem. I can tell the Minister of State that he has no hope in the world in that regard. People who do short-term lets will never do long-term lets. They have their reasons. If they have to, they will give it up, and most likely they will. The Government will certainly not benefit from those houses. There are other Members here shouting for that and looking to end short-term lettings. It will not affect or help the people who are on housing lists. It will hurt people in rural areas of Kerry, such as Killarney, which was declared an RPZ by a Deputy in this Chamber.

It was meant to be for Killarney town but it has been brought out to large part of east Kerry where people used to let their second house, maybe the old family house that they did up on the farm, and derived a little bit of income from it for perhaps three or four months of the summer. Kerry is a lovely place today and in fine weather, but it is not so attractive to tourists in the winter when it is rainy and places are not green any more. Short-term lets were attracting a certain type of tourists to rural places. The local pubs, shops and whatever else in the local village benefited from a few extra people being around for the few months. If Deputies are going to stop short-term lettings, and there are other Deputies here who will vote against it, I can guarantee that these people will not rent their houses long term. They have no notion of doing it, never did it and will not do it in the future.

The Government is wasting a lot of time with this effort. The way to help people who are on the housing list, as Lemass and de Valera did back in 1960s or whenever, is to build social and council houses. People were housed then and they also built rural cottages. The local authorities gave out demountable homes but are stopped from doing that now. Unless there is a fire or a flood, the local authority will not bring out a demountable home. However, they used to before. If a house fell down or the roof fell in now and it was so bad that there were no windows or doors in it, they will not bring out a demountable home now. Rather, they will try to force the person into some rented accommodation in the nearest town or village and there might not be a town or village anywhere near the person.

I know of one person who died in his van. I am sad about because I raised it with the Minister of State. I thank him for coming back to me about it. I will be fair to every man and woman. The Minister of State did come back to me on that. However, the man has died since, so I will not be on about him any more. He died in a van because we could not get a demountable home out to him. If the local authority wishes to bring one out, it has to look for planning permission and do so many other things that it would take 12 months. It used to be called emergency housing, but it is not emergency housing any more.

I hear that some other kind of houses can now be built now and the Government wants to build a lot of them for other types of people in bigger towns or cities with no problem and without any planning permission. I do not think that is fair. I am very concerned that we are wasting time getting rid of Airbnb and other short-term lets because it will not help the housing situation one iota.

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