Seanad debates

Thursday, 15 November 2018

10:30 am

Photo of James ReillyJames Reilly (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

To respond to the previous contribution, the Government, specifically the Taoiseach and Tánaiste, have been very low key about this, and purposely so, to allow room and space for those who have difficult decisions ahead of them. I welcome the British Cabinet's decision but I fully realise the difficulties that lie ahead.

I had a short meeting this morning with the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection and I am delighted that letters will issue to more than 79,000 pensioners to inform them that they will receive a correction to their income, which was adversely affected by changes in the 2012 Act. I have raised this issue numerous times and I welcome this development. There will also be back pay to March last.

I raise another issue that I have also raised several times previously. It relates to rural planning and a ruling by the European Court of Justice that a local-only rule introduced in Flanders was illegal and no longer pertinent or allowed. I have called several times for the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government to inform the House what his plans are for new directions and guidelines on this matter to be issued to local authorities. Many people who are in the middle of a planning application or have just been granted planning permission are wondering whether their permission will stand up to legal scrutiny. They are in a kind of limbo. Should they go ahead and buy a house? Will a bank give them a mortgage to build the house for which they have been granted permission? Others who wish to return to the rural areas from which they come to keep their communities vibrant are still being subjected to the locals-only rule, which has been found to be illegal by the European Court of Justice. I ask the Leader to call the Minister in to the House so that he can clarify the situation, outline his plans to correct this matter and give us the guidelines as soon as possible. People's lives are on hold in the middle of a housing crisis.

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