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

As many of my colleagues have said, we are dealing with an absolute lack in respect of planning in rural Ireland, and services that are not up to scratch at all levels of infrastructure. We know all the issues regarding water, GPs and school transport, and deal with them from year to year. We are even seeing issues in places across urban and rural Ireland that never had problems with roads.

11 o’clock

We have been listening for a long time and, at times, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Deputies, depending on what is happening at a local level, are in the Chamber speaking out of both sides of their mouths in respect of rural planning. We are still waiting on the rural housing guidelines. Over the summer, the draft guidelines were with the Attorney General. I assume he has done whatever due diligence he needed to do, so we need to see them. I have my doubts, although I hope I am wrong, that we will see them before an election is called. I would like that election to be called as quickly as possible, for the record, in order that we can stop the farce that obtains in this House and everywhere else at this point. Let us just get on with it.

Deputy Kenny spoke about the fact there are technological solutions for rural housing. At times, people get planning on the basis of anomalies, where a structure might be accepted as being an outhouse and is not considered to be an old building in any way, shape or form, and someone might get infill. That is no way to do business. People have to be able to live in the place they come from. We have to be able to sustain rural communities.

We could talk forever about this. We need to see the guidelines and make sure they work. I could talk about the Cooley greenway, from Dundalk to Carlingford, and the huge number of submissions on it that have been made, but a huge issue that people have relates not just to the lack of consultation from TII and Louth County Council. I really hope they will take heed of the very high number of submissions. The other issue is that people in that part of the world cannot get planning permission. They want to see sustainable guidelines and consistency because there is none across the board.

Dundalk, along with the wider County Louth, has had its issues relating to sport. Dundalk Football Club has its issues at the moment and fans are attempting to find a solution to it. We also want to see movement on Louth GAA and the stadium. One issue I must raise relates to Dundalk Grammar School and the ban on GAA. On Friday, 11 October, from 2 p.m. to 3.10 p.m., senior students from that school will protest outside the front gates of the school, in front of the old Louth hospital. It will be the second protest since May. It is teacher supported and the majority of the students support it, as do Louth GAA and Jarlath Burns himself. We need the board to reconsider because at this stage it is an outright ban and that is not good enough. I think everyone in this Chamber would be in support of the students, the teachers and everyone else who wants to support Gaelic games. It is disgraceful.

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