Eamon Scanlon (Fianna Fail)

I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak about the sustainable rural housing guidelines for planning authorities put forward by the Minister, Deputy Roche, and I warmly welcome them. I have been calling for such guidelines for some time, from when I was a member of Sligo County Council and since my election to Seanad Éireann. Some of them will improve all aspects of the planning process, especially for members of the public who currently find it very confusing and full of red tape.

One of the continuous annoyances brought to my attention by constituents relates to pre-planning matters. Thankfully, the guidelines include a renewed and strengthened emphasis for improving the service from the planning authorities to applicants, with particular reference to improving the availability and responsiveness of pre-planning consultations. In fairness to the planners in County Sligo, they are quite good in that regard.

Another issue involves people making applications on behalf of the public. I am aware of two recent such applications where the person making them did the percolation test knowing that it had already failed. Despite this, the person made applications to the county council and charged the individual. Many people can ill afford €2,000 for such an application to be made, yet certain people submit them on their behalf knowing that they have to be refused.

The new guidelines will ensure that applicants and planning authorities can work together. This will allow for a much better situation for people applying to build. The local authorities will be able to examine the necessary planning criteria and then select the best available site for a house and the best design solution for a site. The type of consultation provided will save time and money and allow members of the public to work in conjunction with the local authority and the planning guidelines. This will work both ways, as members of the public who wish to build will be better able to understand the planning issues and regulations, while the planning officials will listen and respond to the concerns of the applicants.

I am pleased with the reference in the new guidelines to returning Irish emigrants, and the special emphasis the Minister has given to this area. These emigrants were born and lived for substantial parts of their lives in rural Ireland and left the country principally for reasons of work. It is my hope that the guidelines will ensure that emigrants who now wish to return to their home areas to reside near other family members, to work locally, to retire or to care for elderly members of their families, can do so.

I am also pleased that in drawing up the guidelines, the Minister took submissions from the relevant organisations who manage the development process in rural areas, such as planning authorities and An Bord Pleanála. I agree with the comments on the board made by previous speakers. I am aware of numerous applications where, sometimes for vexatious reasons, an objection has been made. That objection goes to An Bord Pleanála. One of its inspectors then investigates the application and the objection and sometimes finds in favour of granting the application. Nevertheless, a board which would probably not even be familiar with the rural town, never mind the area in which an application might have been granted, can overrule its own inspector's advice and refuse the planning application. There is something badly wrong in such a situation and it needs to be addressed.

From letters in national newspapers one can see how certain people, mostly urban thinking people, feel about rural planning. There is no doubt that people in the countryside are protective of it, but it is important that people who want to can live where they were born, bred and reared, in their local areas where their families live. If we do not keep those people and allow them to build houses and live in their local areas, how can we sustain rural villages, local churches, schools or football teams? Thankfully, things are changing and because of good economic growth in this country, people can get jobs. They no longer have to go to England or America and can stay in their own communities. It is important that they are allowed to stay there and to build their homes.

I wish the Minister the best of luck. I compliment him and his officials for a job well done. I hope that the planners accept his proposals in the spirt he intends. It is all about interpretation, and the spirit in which the planners take on board the regulations.