Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Like my colleague Senator Boyhan stated, that is a very welcome move but we need these rural planning guidelines to be published as soon as possible. These have been a long time in the pipeline. The Minister of State knows rural Kilkenny as well l as I do parts of rural Wexford, and he will appreciate the problems that are created. I speak in support of my colleague Senator Chambers's remarks on some of this. Let us be clear, sustainability is built into this legislation, but sustainability in local communities will be driven, for the most part, by those families who have lived in those communities over a long number of years.

One of the difficulties is the sense that the Office of the Planning Regulator often tries to micromanage at a local level without the necessary local knowledge as to what is happening.

I have a particular concern because of where I am from. Over a long period, people from outside, mostly from Dublin, have come down, particularly to the Wexford coastal areas, looking to build homes or convert holiday homes. They often price locals out of the market, so it is right that there are restrictions in place to cater for local families and those with immediate connections to particular areas. Part of the problem is that there are variations in how this is being enforced from one local authority area to another. When it comes to some of the local area plans, there has also been a very high level of hands-on control on the part of the Office of the Planning Regulator. That said, I support the principle and agree that we need a central body to direct planning in general.

One of my concerns is that while in many ways we restrict a good deal of rural planning for very good reason, the next expectation then is to try to encourage people to live in villages. However, the difficulty with many villages is that they do not have the water or wastewater capacity to enable them to grow and become sustainable. In north Wexford, for example, the only village which has any water or sewerage capacity is Coolgreany. There is no other village in which people can live, despite the big demand. There is a lack of engagement between the Office of the Planning Regulator and Uisce Éireann. Ferns, which has some capacity, is currently in its third week of a boil water notice. Unusually, for those living in one-off rural houses with their own wells, the water is perfectly safe because people are maintaining it but we have a problem with the maintenance in Ferns village. What this has done is forced more and more people to live in Gorey town. They are not being granted planning permission in rural areas and are continually being refused permission to build on the outskirts of villages because of water and sewerage capacity. At the same time, as part of the national planning framework, towns and villages in Wicklow and Wexford are being told that their populations have already exceeded the numbers that were anticipated. The question I put to the Minister of State is, which houses should we tear down? If we are going to apply the direct logic of the planning framework and the total numbers that are being set out, this is what we are facing.

I welcome the fact that the Minister of State, Deputy Dillon, committed yesterday to a review of the Office of the Planning Regulator. Like Senator Boyhan, I also welcome the fact we are going to see the planning guidelines. I would hope to see them published by the autumn, with a short consultation period. Clarity is needed around these issues. It is also needed with regard to short-term letting as part of the rural planning guidelines. I appreciate this is a separate issue but we still have not heard what exemptions will be put in place.

I disagree that the legislation does not address questions of sustainability and climate change. They are built into it entirely but it is important to understand in the context of rural housing and where it needs to be built that if the necessary infrastructure and support services are not in place, we have a major problem. I support the idea that if a family has lived within a rural community for several generations, it is not unreasonable for them to expect to be able to continue to live there.