Conor McGuinness (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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63. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the work he has undertaken to date to address the crisis impacting on rural communities where young families are unable to find a home in the area they were raised in; and if he has met the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to discuss the matter. [26532/25]

Conor McGuinness (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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Rural communities are in crisis. Young families who cannot find homes in their communities are being pushed into larger urban centres, which are already under pressure. Rural communities, ár gceantair Ghaeltachta san áireamh, are facing an existential threat. What specific steps are the Minister and his Department taking to support rural and coastal communities facing decline due to the total lack of housing opportunities and availability?

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta as ucht a cheist. Our Rural Future is the Government policy for sustainable rural development in Ireland, putting forward a vision for vibrant rural places that are attractive to people, particularly young people, who wish to study, live, work and raise their families in rural Ireland. More than 170 measures are outlined in the policy to support sustainable economic and social development and environmental and cultural well-being. The delivery of these measures is clearly cross-governmental, with a range of Departments contributing in their own areas of responsibility.

In response to Deputy McGuinness's question on housing in rural areas, my colleague the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage holds policy responsibility. As part of my Department's role in overseeing the delivery of Our Rural Future, officials in my Department and I regularly engage with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. I will formally meet the Minister, Deputy Browne, next week on a range of issues, including housing agus tithíocht sa Ghaeltacht freisin.

This activity includes membership of the cross-departmental steering group on the national planning framework, engagement on the development and delivery of the Housing for All strategy and the delivery of initiatives under the town centre first policy, which is delivered jointly by our two Departments. The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage is also a key participant in the development of the new Our Rural Future policy, which will take effect from 2026. We have had a number of public and stakeholder consultations on Our Rural Future policy. Of course, the issues of housing and the necessary infrastructure to support housing development for our rural communities have come up in those engagements.

The new Our Rural Future policy will absolutely reflect the importance of rural housing and the many programme for Government commitments in this area. I look forward to continuing to work closely with the Minister, Deputy Browne, and his officials but also with the House to provide maximum housing and, most importantly, sustainable communities in rural areas.

Conor McGuinness (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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The Minister mentioned Our Rural Future. While I am glad to hear that the next iteration of the Government's rural development policy will look at housing, the previous one did not do so in any meaningful sense. In fact, it had more to say on rural broadband than on rural housing. I believe that is part of the fundamental problem. This Government and its predecessors have wasted years when housing should have been developed. Rural communities need action on housing. They need delivery of affordable and social homes and provision of affordable serviced sites. Coastal villages like Ardmore are facing a demographic cliff edge. Tá ár gceantair Ghaeltachta, cosúil leis An Rinn i bPort Láirge, ag feitheamh le blianta i gcomhair tithíochta inacmhainne agus sóisialta. Families are crying out for help. While the Minister is right that much of the responsibility lies with the housing Minister, the Department of Rural and Community Development needs to step up. The recently passed national planning framework offers zero ambition. It remains to be seen what Our Rural Future mark 2 will promise and actually deliver when it comes to rural housing.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I agree with the Deputy in many respects that there is a rural housing challenge. However, planning permissions have been granted for almost 6,000 one-off homes on average every year since 2020.

Over 90% of those are built in rural settings. Within our Department, we have put in place a large number of policies to support the communities around that. Funding of €164 million for 30 rural regional regeneration development projects was announced in May 2024, an additional €20 million for town and village renewal and also €109 million for community centre investment. They are facilities that encourage and sustain communities. We will be working with the Minister, Deputy Browne. I look forward to engaging with Deputy McGuinness as urlabhraí Shinn Féin but also as a member of the committee with regard to what our rural future should look like. The year 2026 is very different from 2020, and there are huge opportunities we want to maximise as well as addressing the challenges. The opportunities are there, however. We want to take them and run with them.

Conor McGuinness (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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I look forward to having those discussions with the Minister both at committee and in the Chamber and, indeed, offline because this is an issue that is not going away any time soon. Much time has been wasted over the last five to ten years when we should have been developing housing, but it is never too late to start doing the right thing. It needs to be focused on keeping rural communities alive because the consequences of an action are playing out before our eyes in my constituency, which I am more familiar with, in An Rinn, Bunmahon, Dunmore East and Ardmore, which I mentioned. GAA clubs cannot field teams. Schools are losing pupils and are at risk of closure in some cases. Families are under huge emotional and financial distress and are being taken apart from each other. That social fabric and social support and infrastructure are not where they should be, and they should be the cornerstone of our rural communities.

This is the cost of Government inaction over the last five to ten years. We cannot continue in that same vein. I welcome the Minister's comments today that this will be a major focus of the next rural development policy, but he can understand a little of my cynicism when we passed in this House a number of weeks ago the national planning framework, which had zero ambition. It had so little to say about rural communities, rural development and rural housing.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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We get a sense of the national planning framework now as local authorities are being invited to submit new proposals for housing in terms of rezoning land. I would also point to the vacant property refurbishment grant, which has opened up houses. The Deputy is a rural TD as well; he can see that houses that were closed for generations have been opened up. In Waterford City and County Council alone this year, 319 applications have been received to date, with 184 having been approved. That is people moving back into homes in areas that were closed for 20 or 30 years or even more. That shows it is a mix of new and existing stock. All of this is part of the work that is under way from the Department of housing in this space.