Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent Ireland Party) | Oireachtas source

I wish the Ministers well in their new positions. I have been in construction all of my life. Part of the Government's plan is now to allow buildings at the back of other properties. I do not have an issue with that once they are proper buildings that can be built. What I do have an issue with are the planning guidelines as they apply in County Limerick. For a number of years, we have been told that we cannot built to the back, side or front of any place because there is no infrastructure to allow for it. People now have their children, their children's partners or wives or their grandchildren living with them. We now have ten living in my own house. I am in the construction business so you would imagine that I could help with the cost of building but, when they try to save for a mortgage, it is shoved another step away from them. They are saving hard but, when they try to build a house or get planning permission for one, it is pushed away from them as a result of cost inflation. Every week, I get a letter telling me that the price of concrete products or anything oil-based has gone up another 10%. Over the last two years, there have been 11 increases in the cost of building materials across the board. The people who are living at home have no choice because they cannot afford a house. They now need something they can place within the area of their own house. I do not have a problem with that but people in the countryside should also be allowed to build on a half-acre site to allow their parents to step to one side and have their own private unit. This would allow the next generation to go into the parents' house but the laws do not allow for it. If we are to allow something to be placed behind the house, we must also allow building on a site that is capable of taking a second house. In a city, you can build 20 houses on half an acre but in the county you are only allowed one. We have to make sure that the next generation, both in urban and rural areas, are allowed to build for the future.

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