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

-----asked, on behalf of the councillors, to put forward amendments to, we will say, the county development plan. The regulator then comes along, whom I do not know and no one in Kerry knows nor does he understand their problems. When we look to get a bit of serviced land zoned, what happens? The regulator sends an addendum to the chief executive telling the councillors to withdraw whatever they had proposed and that the regulator will only consider whatever his views are.

One of the things the regulator has done is to have ruled out zoned land that is serviced. That is wrong. Many of us, including Councillor Johnny Healy-Rae, believe that the more land that is zoned, the higher the chance of cost-effective sites because if we give a monopoly of zoned land to one person, it means they can charge what they like to the builders. That is very serious when you consider that fact that the policy seems to be to drive young people into towns and villages that are not even serviced. We have 38 inadequate treatment plants. More settlements have no treatment plant. That is a fact. At the same time, because the regulator has done this and these areas are provided, district urban generated areas have been moved out further from towns like Killarney, Killorglin and Kenmare. That means people have no choice but to go into the towns to try to acquire a site or buy an expensive house in a town like Killarney. The cheapest new-build house in Killarney is €550,000. At the same time, people are prohibited from building behind or alongside their father’s property on a one-acre site five miles out from Killorglin, seven miles out from Killarney or two miles out from Kenmare. They have the sites and they are being disallowed. Planning is being curbed and all the power is being given to the regulator, taking it away from the elected members, who I count to be most vital. They go through the election process. They did so last June. We now find out there is some new body with a new name on it that I never heard before, namely, a planning commissioner. Who will he elected by?

Another worry I have is that, after all the talk and debates, this Bill is going to be guillotined after three hours. In all fairness, is the Minister trying to say to me this is fair on all the people who have so many concerns with this Bill? We cannot get through it all in such a short space of time like three hours. It would take three weeks to go through these amendments thoroughly to ensure fairness is applied to our people because they are being wronged and cannot get planning permission. Towns and villages have no treatment plants. How can the Minister say this is fair?

As for the residential zoned land tax, I know of sites in Killarney that are zoned but will not be accepted, and they want to sell them.

At the same time, there are lands that are known only as strategically zoned reserves. The services are not even going to them. Those affected have received letters and we do not know when the tax will be activated. We are told it will be in February. There is some kind of wrangle going on between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. To be fair, Fianna Fáil is not for the residential zoned land tax, but Fine Gael is. We are waiting for the details. We were waiting all along for the details concerning working farmers, and now we are being told the option they have to exempt themselves from the tax is to go through the planning process. That means that to get their land rezoned, they have to get permission from the chief executive of Kerry County Council. How can that happen when the regulator is telling him not to give it? That is the trouble I have with these kinds of things.

Much of what is in this planning Bill favours Dublin. Kerry is so different from Dublin and has so many different problems. I have enough to do to follow Kerry. I know that much of what the Government is doing in this Bill is for people in Dublin and not helping residents in Kerry.

I have a question on reclaimed land in a maritime area. Who will decide on the compulsory acquisition of land? If the land is reclaimed by a farmer for farming purposes, will it be purchased compulsorily? Where is the line drawn in this regard?

The provisions on strict urban-generated pressure are absolutely ridiculous. We actually believed they meant people would be able to come out of towns and build in the country. This is not so. It actually means that someone five or six miles out of town and who has never lived with anyone but his or her father or mother is to be denied permission to build on their land if not a farmer. There are others affected besides. We welcome the fact that farmers are exempt from the rule. It would be a pity if they were not. The Government talks about the carbon footprint. Imagine if it insisted that the farmers lived in town and came out to their farms to work three or four times a day. That is how ridiculous things are becoming. Someone who has lived for 40 years or more with his father, on whose land he or she has been born and reared, will not get planning permission because of the strict urban-generated pressure provision. The radius extends ten miles from Killarney, six from Killorglin and I do not know how far from Kenmare. It is three or four miles anyway. It is absolutely ridiculous trying to shove people into the towns which have no services. For the past five years, you could not build a second house in Kenmare town because it would be classed as a development. You only get permission for one, and that is why we are short of housing in Kenmare. We are also short in places like Moyvane and various other places where there is pressure. You can get permission for only one house in Moyvane. It is the same story in Brosna. I know a fellow who applied for permission for two houses but who was shot down because the treatment plant was not adequate.

The Government should get its troops out and see what is happening on the ground. It is very clear that this is mostly a Green Party policy. We can blame the Green Party for a lot of it but it was Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael that took that party on board. It was those parties that joined the Green Party and made men and women out of them although they only represented parts of Dublin. Basically, they had nothing in common. Regardless of the votes they got in the past, in Kerry or the other seaboard counties, they will not get them next time. I am glad of this. People see the harm they have done. Fianna Fáil is letting it happen under its nose just to stay in power. I am sorry to have to tell the Minister that. I have a lot of respect for him and he does a lot of good work, but this is the truth of what has happened. The Greens have ruined rural Ireland. If there were time, I could stay talking about this for two or three weeks, not hours. I am aware there are others who wish to speak but we cannot support this planning Bill because it is diluting the role of county councils. County councillors are elected by the people they represent. They know the areas they represent and the needs of the people trying to live there, but the Government is not listening to them or taking on board the problems.

I raised the issue of strict urban-generated pressure with the Minister here in the Chamber but that is as far as it went. We see nothing to change the zoning provisions or help the local authorities to change them. Now we are telling farmers with land zoned as residential that they will have to seek an amendment to the county development plan if they want an exemption. That is under the remit of the chief executive but the chief executive will not accede to a farmer’s request because the regulator will not allow it. This is why I will be voting against the Bill. I am very worried about it. It is the most serious Bill that has come before us in the past three or four years. I am very sorry but we are voting against the Bill because we have been given no time to go through each amendment properly. Three hours will not do. Three weeks would not do me, and there are 160 Members. I appreciate the latitude the Leas-Cheann Comhairle has allowed me this time.

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