Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I want to raise the issue of the rural housing guidelines. We have been promised for years. There have been Commencement matters, parliamentary questions and written correspondence about the need for the rural housing guidelines. Many Senators will be familiar with the Flemish decree, which emanates from Belgium, on findings regarding the European Commission and the right to rural housing. I am not in here to advocate for rural housing willy-nilly at every crossroads all over the place, but I realise and recognise that parts of rural Ireland are dying. Parishes are folding. GAA clubs cannot exist. Schools are down to one teacher. Families have abandoned little rural hamlets all over rural parts of Ireland. They are no longer there to live, support, collaborate and work on behalf of their communities and support their elderly folk. There is a desire for many of them to build near or close by their families and to support them, and that is the ask.

Today, I am writing again to the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, to ask him when he is publishing. Forget about the promises. They cannot keep coming in here for three years and tell us that they are working on them. Can we have a debate on rural housing, and can the Acting Leader use his good offices to impress upon the Minister the importance of and the need for rural housing guidelines? As someone who lives in Cavan, who works with rural people, and represents ably and well rural communities and people, I ask that he makes this a priority.