Dee Ryan (Fianna Fail)

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. I thank the Minister of State for coming in to address this issue. I asked if the Minister for housing could provide an update and whether he could possibly relax the rural housing planning guidelines to facilitate more people who wish to build their own homes in rural areas. There is an urgent need to look at these plans and to revise them because there are so many people who genuinely wish to live in the countryside and build their own homes there.

The decisions on these applications are made on the basis of an Act that dates from 2005, which is 20 years ago. The rules were designed for a different era. In their current form, they are overly rigid and no longer serve rural communities or the State in the midst of a national housing crisis. Surely, nothing can be off the table at a time like this. If we are serious about increasing housing supply, we also have to be serious about creating opportunities for people who want to put down roots in rural areas. Since becoming a public representative, I have met countless young couples who are desperately searching for a way out of the housing crisis, families who are trapped in small terraced homes that no longer meet their growing needs and others who are living separately in their childhood bedrooms and who cannot afford to rent because they are saving a deposit to buy a home.

Across rural Ireland, and particularly in County Limerick, there is strong demand from people who want to build their own homes. However, outdated planning policies are preventing them from doing so. My colleagues Councillors Ger Ward, Fergus Kilcoyne, Martin Ryan and Francis Foley recently moved a motion on this topic at a meeting of Limerick County Council. They outlined practical proposals, which I fully endorse and which I will set out for the Minister of State. Their proposals include that the rules relating to ribbon development should be modernised. One of the greatest obstacles is the strict interpretation of the policy relating to ribbon development. In County Limerick, for example, residential development along a rural road is limited to four houses per 250 m. Originally well intentioned, this rule is now applied so rigidly that many local people cannot build on their own land. My councillor colleagues have proposed a practical update to allow up to six houses per 250 m. It is a small adjustment but it would allow more people to build homes.

The councillors have also proposed that ribbon development restrictions be scrapped altogether in respect of areas within 1 km of country towns and villages. That is a practical proposal. I would go further. I am of the view that the local area criterion should also be scrapped for proposals in respect of new home developments within 1 km of a town or village. The local area criterion was introduced to prevent speculative development. Twenty years on, however, our patterns of living, working and shopping have changed dramatically. More people work from home, online shopping means fewer car trips and many rural businesses are struggling with footfall, so edge-of-settlement areas within 1 km of towns and villages are ideal for rural housing. In these locations, if applicants satisfy all other planning criteria, there is no meaningful purpose to having a local area criterion as well.

I wish to put forward a couple of suggestions. The Aire Stáit will indulge me. We should replace the requirement to demonstrate a housing need for people who want to build one-off rural houses. If someone satisfies all other criteria, what difference does it make if you have another home? A new house is being built. Are we not in the game of housing supply? It is great if another home comes onto the rental market. Is that not a good thing?

We should allow landowners who meet the local area criterion to transfer their building options. People who satisfy the local area criterion and have a site should be able to transfer that building option to another person who has the means and wishes to make use of it.

All of these proposals serve one simple objective, namely to make it possible for more people who want to live in rural Ireland to build their own family homes. When will the rural planning guidelines be updated?