John Cummins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for taking this matter. I am seeking the rectification and regularisation of planning permissions that were granted for holiday villages and allow them be used for full-time residential accommodation. This matter has come to my attention not only in my own county of Waterford, but also through being contacted by full-time residents in holiday villages in other parts of the country. They have tried to purchase the property they live in, and which the landlord is selling, only for the sale to be unable to progress due to restrictions on the original planning permission restricting the use of the property for holiday lets only. As the Minister of State will be aware, more and more landlords have been leaving the market, and there are many and varied reasons for that but as a result of the restricted supply, many of these homes in holiday villages throughout the country, particularly in coastal communities, are being used on a full-time residential basis without any issue.

From a planning perspective the owners of such properties are open to enforcement action by local authorities should a complaint be made. Many of the holiday villages I refer to were granted permission with specific conditions that they be used as short-stay accommodation only. I accept that the standards applying to such developments were different from normal residential developments in terms of set-back distances, open space requirements and so on. However, these homes provide much-needed full-time accommodation to families throughout this country at this moment in time. In my experience dealing with many of these developments, such as in Faithlegg, Dunmore East and other coastal communities, it has proved difficult to secure a change of use or overcome some of the conditions. From a strict planning perspective, I can understand why. However, the time has now surely come to introduce an amnesty of sorts for such developments. Where the owner of the property wishes to make them available for full-time accommodation and the person residing, or looking to reside, in them on a permanent basis is happy to do so, surely the planning code should not prevent them. In the reverse scenario, Government policy is rightly dictating that homes need to have planning in place for short-term lets if they are to be used as rental accommodation for the short-stay market. We are insisting on that. However, this anomaly is preventing short-stay lets from becoming permanent residential accommodation. This is the very thing we are trying to do, by putting those restrictions on the properties with short-stay permissions. It seems counterintuitive that we would not try to put something in place to regularise this.

This issue was brought into sharp focus a couple of weeks ago on Newstalk when 63 homes on a ghost estate in Tullow were highlighted. These homes are completed, although the development is not entirely completed in respect of roads and its other elements. However, it seemed from the report that the local authority is insisting that 15 of these completed units be demolished because they cannot meet the set-back distance requirements and open space requirements. Surely in 2023, given the constraints in the housing market, such a suggestion cannot be tolerated. What I suggest in terms of an amnesty, or changes to exempted development, would facilitate these homes to be lived in on a permanent basis.