Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael)

While it might not appear to be politically correct, I consider that people come first. Anything that would stop the son or daughter of a farmer or anyone else in a rural community from building on or around the ancestral home should be neither legislated for nor tolerated. At a later stage in the deliberations, the Minister of State should make a clear statement on the position in the future for those who wish to build in the country. I refer to those who wish to maintain a traditional way of life. While one might think it was efficacious to have people moving into villages from the perspective of economies of scale, social engineering and so on, ultimately it is the people's choice as to live in the way they do and this should be supported. Consequently, I seek an assurance from the Minister of State in this regard. How does he perceive the influence of the habitats directive on the capacity of people to secure planning?

I refer to a senior county councillor who is a colleague of Senator Wilson and mine in that he is an elected representative from County Cavan. I do not wish to name him because that would be unfair. He was told at a meeting he attended recently that 80% of the planning applications in Cavan would henceforth fail under the terms of this Bill. I seek an assurance from the Minister of State that this is not the case. I believe the failure rate should be 8% given that obviously there are certain conditions in which planning cannot be granted because health and safety issues are involved or the complete ruination of an environment or the building of a monstrosity on the top of a hill is proposed. Everyone is familiar with the exceptions but within reason and while giving people the benefit of the doubt, I believe people should be fit to build where they wish and to live in the communities of which they are part.

I have just had lunch with a family from Cavan. When I told them the Seanad was about to consider the Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill, they said it was very important to them to know their children would have the option to build on their property. That is a reasonable aspiration for any family to have.