Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I very much enjoyed his tribute to Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh. The idea that listening to the match on the radio was more enjoyable than watching it on the television probably captures the essence of many people's experience and memory.

Everybody or certainly most people in this House want to see a balanced approach to rural housing. The Deputy is pointing to people who are doing their best to put a roof over the head of their family, son or daughter and provide for themselves. We need a situation where people are facilitated to build on their own land while remaining consistent with national spatial planning policy and providing access to services, sewers and other important facilities.

The Deputy listed a number of places in his constituency. I understand the draft ministerial direction for the Kenmare municipal district local area plan was put out to public consultation from 6 June to 20 June. In other words, it has just closed. The chief executive will now review the submission and report to the Office of the Planning Regulator. This has to be done within four weeks of 20 June. The Office of the Planning Regulator then considers the chief executive's report and has to report back to the Minister within three weeks. The Minister then has six weeks to issue a final decision, having received the reports from the chief executive of the council and the Planning Regulator. This kind of activity should now be seen as a routine part of our planning processes. Four local area directions have issued so far this year, with final directions issued for Letterkenny, Castlebar and Athenry. I am sure the Deputy would not ask me to intervene in that ongoing process because it has just gone out to public consultation and has some way to go.

I hear what the Deputy is saying on the Office of the Planning Regulator. We need to remember how we got there. The office was established in 2019 on foot of recommendations made by the Tribunal to Inquire into Certain Planning Matters and Payments, called the Mahon tribunal. Its role is to ensure the local authorities and An Bord Pleanála support and implement national planning policy. It also has a role in planning research, training and public awareness to promote public engagement on the planning process.

Updated rural housing guidelines are currently being prepared by the Department of housing and will expand on existing policy in the national planning framework which relates to rural housing. We will also have later this year new housing targets and a national planning framework, which will begin to give us a level of granular detail as to what that means for County Kerry or any other county in Ireland. That might be useful in addressing some of the issues the Deputy raises.

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