Gerald Nash (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise the long delays in the Government revising the 2005 rural housing guidelines as they apply to the local needs criteria. In 2007 the European Commission issued an infringement notice against Ireland in which a view was expressed that Ireland's local needs criteria for one-off rural houses are excessively restrictive and may be in breach of the treaties. The Flemish decree handed down by the European Court of Justice in 2013 appears to clarify that to be the case. It appears from parliamentary questions and a circular in May 2017 from the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government that to avoid the escalation of the 2007 infringement case from the Commission the Department established a working group to examine those guidelines. The replies to the parliamentary question indicate that the group is engaging with the Commission to identify a way forward. The Department said in the circular last May that the guidance would be updated in the second half of 2017 but, unfortunately, we are still waiting for that guidance. It is another missed target for the Government, along with the missed target for the publication of the national planning framework. Both the new rural housing guidelines and the national planning framework must be viewed in the same context. Both documents were due last year and both are essential for good planning and giving important advice to people who are hoping to invest in their own homes in rural communities.

I have always been a strong supporter of robust frameworks for the operation of our rural housing policy. They must be environmentally sound and operate on the grounds of sustainability, efficient use of services, good use of land, good design quality and so forth. The delays in publishing the new revised guidelines are causing problems for families throughout the country and in the middle of an unprecedented housing crisis. I know people who have deposits on sites in County Louth who are wondering if they can stop renting and if they will be allowed to build in the villages in which they have made their homes. In many cases the villages are where they run their businesses and they are actively engaged in the communities they now call home. There is a huge degree of uncertainty because of the delays in addressing this problem and in bringing forward the revised guidelines, as the Government is required to do. It is causing problems for people and must be addressed. Can the Leader clarify when the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government will bring these guidelines forward and when they will become policy for each local authority?