Pat Moylan (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State and thank him for his contribution to this debate. I mentioned on 10 March that most rural dwellers are not farmers and do not depend directly on farming. The backbone of many rural communities is the people who live in the area but commute to work elsewhere. Such people make a major contribution to the areas in which they live. We have to enable people to continue to build houses and to live in such areas, while working in adjacent areas. We will have a major problem if such practices are not allowed to continue. The viability of many important elements of rural parishes, such as schools and sporting clubs, will be called into question if the Minister does not make the changes he proposes. We have to take on board the contribution made by sporting clubs. We will go down the wrong road if we do not allow development and if we do not allow young families and new families to live in rural areas.

The Minister should consider the serious questions being asked by local authorities about people's connections with an area. I am familiar with the cases of people in my home county, whose parents moved from a rural area to a town some years ago after being housed by a local authority. Their families are now in a position to provide housing in rural areas. Such people are often unable to purchase sites adjacent to bigger towns and are forced to move to rural areas to buy a site and to build a house. We must afford such people the opportunity to return to rural areas to build houses. If we are not prepared to allow people to move to the areas from which their parents came a few years ago, we are going down the wrong road.

The Minister may have stated that local authorities are insisting on a seven-year clause in the cases of some people who move out and build. It is hard for a young couple or a young person to commit themselves to live in an area for seven years. They may have to change jobs for employment reasons, for example. The maximum period we should require a family to commit itself to staying in a given area is two or three years. People who would love to stay in an area may have to move to another area for reasons that may be beyond their control.

The Minister spoke about risks to underground water supplies and aquifers as a result of development in rural areas. I am aware that many houses have been built in rural areas by people who received grant aid. At one time, most houses were built under the grant size, but that is not always the case now because houses are getting bigger. The grant became unnecessary as people started to exceed the grant size. When the inspector came to approve the grant aid, in most cases he looked around the house, for example to check whether the attic was insulated or the taps were flowing. Did he check the septic tank, which is most important, to see whether it was constructed in a proper fashion and in accordance with the tight guidelines that had been set out by the Department? I do not doubt that a substantial number of septic tanks were not constructed in accordance with the proper plans.

The construction of inferior septic tanks has caused serious problems to underground water sources in certain areas. We have to be straight, honest and upright about the problem. New systems, such as the Puraflo system, have been approved and cleared. People have to sign contracts stating they will provide a Puraflo system in rural areas before planning can be granted. We now have a real solution to what was a serious problem in the past.

I may have spoken on 10 March about rural parishes that do not have a proper village centre. The Minister and the Department must ensure local authorities insist on a development envelope around the rural village centre, which in many cases may consist of nothing more than a shop, a church, a school and possibly a pub. Local authorities must provide an envelope to ensure new sewerage systems can be put in place at a reasonable cost to service 30 or 40 houses in rural areas. If that is done, we can say to people from a rural village without a centre or serviced sites that we are giving them an opportunity to stay in that parish and to build where it is safe to build and where a family will not require a second car to take their children to school. I hope the Minister will push local authorities to meet their serious obligation to do that.

In fairness, local authorities have provided private sites at subsided rates in some villages and smaller towns. The Department should be thanked for putting in place a system that allows the local authorities to help those who require housing to build their own houses. If we do not provide private sites or give people some help to provide their own houses, people will be placed on local authority housing lists and will have to be housed by local authorities. It can cost local authorities well over €150,000 to provide houses in local authority areas. If people in rural areas have the ability to provide their own houses, we should try to help them by providing some serviced sites.

It must be recognised that the Department has substantially grant aided group water schemes in many rural areas. At least a proper supply of water, from a group water scheme, is now available. Great credit is due to the Department for making so much money available. Great credit is also due to rural communities for taking up the grant aid available to provide group water schemes, thereby enabling people to stay in their parishes and to rear their families there, as well as ensuring that hurling, Gaelic football and soccer teams can continue to exist. This is necessary to prevent the problem that was encountered recently, when two or three parishes had to come together to try to field an under-age hurling team. No children are enrolling in some small rural schools in which a number of children used to enrol every year.

I welcome the Minister's decision. I compliment the Department and all concerned for affording people the opportunity to build houses in rural areas. We must monitor planners carefully, as some of them are taking a strict line and sticking to the letter of the law in respect of planning. They are refusing planning permission if they can find any way of doing so. That is not the intent of these new guidelines. The intent is to loosen the regulations and afford people an opportunity to build homes where they can do so at a reasonable cost and in the areas in which they want to stay.

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House. I look forward to further developments in affording rural people the opportunity to live in rural areas.