Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Can we have a timeline for when we will see the guidelines for rural housing? We know about the issue. When somebody comes with a planning issue the worst element is that there is no consistency either in the local authority, among local authorities or from planner to planner. We are speaking about landowners who cannot understand why they cannot get planning permission on their land for a child. We are speaking about people who have grown up in these rural areas.

I accept that, from a services point of view, we want to build towns, urban areas and cities as economic drivers but people from rural areas have to be able to live in them. Otherwise, these areas will die. There is an element of unfairness. We need consistency and we need to get these guidelines as soon as possible, while accepting that we do not necessarily have a great history of planning in this State.

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