Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for raising this serious issue. It comes on the back of an ECJ judgment, connected with Article 43 of the treaties which allow free movement across the European Union, EU, and the freedom to live in the EU. We are considering that judgment. We have a working group to study the requirements and restrictions that are in place at the moment for good reason, to try to ensure that we allow people to live in rural areas who have a connection with those areas, through work, family or the period of time they have lived there or some other necessity where a case can be made. We have all been involved in those cases, particularly those of us who know rural Ireland well.We need to have a set of guidelines that protect rural Ireland by ensuring appropriate development, while at the same time ensuring the kind of thinking we have had in the past can be facilitated in the context of a court ruling based on a case in Belgium. That is a big priority for me in the context of how we see rural Ireland develop in the future, how we try to encourage communities to develop as collectives within towns and villages in rural Ireland while at the same time recognise that there will always be a demand and a need for some one-off housing. That is part of the national planning framework, which will be concluded at around the same time as these guidelines are finalised. I will keep the House and the Senators up to date on the work of that working group so that people know where they stand in the context of county development plans.