Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I did not interrupt the Deputy once. Let me outline the case. The Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, will be wrapping up the debate, as the Standing Orders permit, as the Minister of State with responsibility for planning. He will deal with more details with regard to the planning piece.

Vacancy grants have been very effective. They have worked. More than 1,600 applications have come in, about 800 of which are actually approved already. The rest are going through the system. We made some significant changes to take effect from 1 May. Local authorities have been briefed and the circular is issuing today. The grant rate increases are substantial. There is €20,000 on both. Some €50,000 is now available for a vacant property and I have moved the date from 1993 to 2007. Some €70,000 is available for a derelict property, which is not linked to the value or purchase of the property. It allows one rental property as well.

In the motion, which I know is well-intentioned, there is the idea that the grant would be expanded to any property that is vacant for 30 days or more. No criteria are set around it. Does someone leave the house for 31 days and be able to apply for a grant of €50,000? I do not think that is what the Deputies want, but that is how it reads. We need to make sure we build on the success of the scheme so far, because it has been particularly successful. I have met many young couples and households who have been able to buy homes in their areas now, where the State has been able to give up to €70,000 of grants, not including the SEAI grant, which is approximately €29,000. It is a very significant sum of up to €100,000. That is what we want to see and we want to tackle vacancy across our cities, counties, villages and rural areas. The whole focus is on this and on something that can be implemented and has a simple application and has real and tangible supports for people. Supporting that is the vacant homes officers who are in place on a full-time basis in every local authority in the country and the establishment of a vacant homes team within my own Department to oversee it. It is working well. I appreciate and recognise the support that has been given by some Deputies in that regard.

Unquestionably, there are issues with regard to the provision of wastewater and water services throughout the country. Approximately 800 settlements throughout the country have no wastewater capacity at all, but how we tackle that is by ensuring that development happens. Uisce Éireann has a €6 billion capital programme. It has the money and it is rolling that out. I travelled the country. I have been in the Deputy O'Donoghue's county. I met him in Patrickswell, where we had the very first private development in 35 years, which I know the Deputy supported. The development is being supported. Some 75% of applicants to that scheme are using the help-to-buy grant or the first home scheme to purchase in that area.

Recognising the fact the motion is put down to highlight additional measures the Deputies would like to take, they have to acknowledge what is being done already. To come in to the House and say nothing is happening and there is no regard for rural Ireland and housing in our rural areas, I can say as the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, is not correct. We need to ensure there is good planning in our rural areas. I support rural housing. I support good rural planning. Such planning needs to be done in a proper way and underpinned by the rural planning guidelines, which have not been updated since about 2011. They will be published for public consultation shortly. We will also be publishing new regulations with regard to Gaeltacht planning, which we have been working on too. Very shortly, there will be significant changes with regard to the language test, which we have been working on with the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media. I gave a commitment that we would do so.

Furthermore, a significant and tangible change which has not been supported by many Members of the Opposition - I am not saying the motion's sponsors are included - is the timebound waiving of development levies and water connection charges. It applies to all developments and includes rural one-off houses and small developments which we want to happen for SME builders. In the short space of time since that has been announced, I already have specific examples throughout the country of schemes that would not have otherwise started and will be able to boost supply further into next year. Last year, we delivered 30,000 new homes, some 5,600 of which were rural one-off homes. We intend to do more this year and to get more commencements going for next year. The timebound measure is a real saving for people - the average is approximately €15,000 - throughout the country, on the basis of commencement this year and completion of the development or rural one-off house by the end of December.

With regard to An Bord Pleanála, I do not mean to be any way facetious or critical, but when I look at the motion, the suggestion from the Rural Independents is threefold with regard to the board. They make their own views about the bord, in that it is "neither efficient nor effective". We have work to do there and I will fill the Deputies in on that. The motion also states that "the time has come for it to be overhauled, scrapped, or replaced". I am not being funny, but which do we do? Do we scrap it? What happens then? We need to reform the bord. We have 15 board members in place. We have a new chairperson and a new deputy chairperson. The bord is being resourced to a degree it has never been resourced before and I assure Deputies it is working through its backlog and is particularly focused on those developments or homes that are over their time for decisions. The backlog is being worked on. There has never been more members on the board. That is the reason I have not accepted the motion and put down an amendment to the motion. There are two examples, one of which is with regard to the bord being "overhauled, scrapped, or replaced".

The other example relates to the vacancy grant, which some of the Rural Independent Group Deputies do support while others, as well as Sinn Féin, do not. Can we really apply it to properties that have just been vacant for 30 days or more? If someone just leaves the house and goes on holiday for two months, are they then able to claim a grant of €50,000 when they come back? That is not what we want it for. We also have to look at how we can further develop our towns and villages, and that is what we are doing. It takes time to turn that around but I am quite optimistic on the basis of the response not least to the vacant homes grant, the Croí Cónaithe grant and the waiving of development levies and Uisce Éireann connection charges. There has been a good response to that.

In respect of TII, I do not agree with the manner in which Deputy Michael Healy-Rae put that point forward but it is raised me regularly and I do see issues with regard to some of the submissions made by TII that inhibit developments not just of one-off rural but of other settlements too. It is a great frustration, especially to prospective homeowners but also to many Deputies. I have come across cases such as that. I commit to engaging with the agency, as we have done previously. Although it is not under my remit, it is entitled under law to make observations in that regard. There are discrepancies between some of its submissions and observations. Perhaps it made those observations on the basis of a desktop review as opposed to seeing the reality on the ground. I give the House my commitment that I will do that.

I appreciate the remarks the Deputies made. As I said, the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, will conclude the debate. I am going to meet defective concrete block-affected homeowners at 11 a.m., to which I had agreed before this debate was tabled, but I will listen to the remainder of it.

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