Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Planning laws in rural areas are put together to make sure people are refused planning. That is the situation I find for many of my constituents in Cork South-West. Young couples starting off are being refused planning all over west Cork and other areas. Scenic landscape is thrown in as one of the excuses. Someone says, "Oh, you are coming out onto the N71 even though there are five houses on the same road in Rosscarbery". I can name them one after the other. Barryroe is one. I can name places in respect of which issues have been raised with me recently. One young lady spent €10,000 on planning - imagine that - but, having done everything right, she was still refused. That is the kind of situation our people in. It is sad to hear Fianna Fáil Deputies and prospective Fianna Fáil councillors in west Cork spinning waffle about planning while their party has been in government or in a confidence and supply arrangement with Fine Gael for decades now. Both have played a major part in making sure that young people in places like Adrigole, Clonakilty, Goleen, Barryroe, Kilcrohane and Ballinspittle cannot get planning.

In order for rural communities to grow, immediate improvements in local sewerage and water infrastructure need to be considered. There are numerous towns in west Cork - and, I presume, throughout the country - that have inadequate sewerage systems. People cannot build or extend. It is not happening. It is pointless for the Minister to inform me that it is. I will take him down to west Cork and show him a whole lot of places where development cannot be carried out.

People want to build in and move back to these communities, but they are continually being refused due to issues with sewerage and water. These are some of the same issues communities have been working on improving for the past 20 years, although they cannot get funding.

The Minister tabled an amendment to the motion that refers to rural regeneration funding. I am not sure whether the Government looked at our motion properly as it is about planning and the future of rural communities. Rural regeneration funding is a nod-and-wink fund for Ministers. I do not care what anybody says. I am willing to say that openly because I saw what happened in Schull. A fantastic, top-class project seeking rural regeneration funding was shovel-ready after the local community spent tens of thousands of euro on it. Some members of the voluntary group were brought up here to be given the rural regeneration funding, as well as a little clap on the back and a photo with the then Minister of State. After they went home, however, the funding went to some Minister who was going to lose a seat in another constituency. That is an astonishing situation of abuse of funding that belongs to the State.

Fianna Fáil no longer represents rural communities. That is the bottom line. The Minister can tell me I am wrong. He should talk to his own councillors, because they are terribly disappointed with the way things have gone. I am speaking about the sitting councillors, because potential new councillors are dreaming that everybody else is to blame for the planning regulations. An Bord Pleanála has become a dysfunctional organisation that is neither efficient nor effective. The time has come for it to be overhauled or scrapped and replaced. Statutory timelines of no greater than eight weeks should be introduced for the board to deal with all applications to dramatically reduce waiting times. Take the example of the Kinsale playschool, which was part of a development that was meant to go ahead. That playschool was needed. People are waiting for months because An Bord Pleanála has decided it must make a decision on it. Those people are continually contacting me about this because of its importance to the future development of a growing area like Kinsale.

A new €20,000 grant aid package should be introduced for anyone who wishes to build a permanent one-off house on their own land. A first-time buyer's grant can be incredibly important for young people who wish to build a home. Building a home is a significant financial investment. For many young people it is difficult enough to save money for a down payment, let alone meet the full cost of a new build. I met a woman in Timoleague who said her son could almost build a house himself, but he is not allowed to do so because of the regulations that are in place. She said the planning permission will break him before he gets any further but that even if he did get to proceed, there are other regulations in place. He would have to get this fellow and that fellow with letters after their names involved. When I built a house in Lowertown years ago, I did it myself. Bits and pieces of the work were done by neighbours. We worked together. We got a fine house built and we all lived there. That was the way to do it. We could still do that today.

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