Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The Housing for All plan is linked to the National Planning Framework (NPF), which fully supports the sustainable development of rural areas and the need to ensure that they continue to be viable places to live, work and invest in. The NPF aims to support the overall rural pattern of development in Ireland and deliver strengthened and diversified rural communities consistent with Our Rural Future, the National Rural Development Policy 2021-2025.

Updated Rural Housing Guidelines are currently being prepared by my Department. The updated guidelines will expand on the high level spatial planning policy of the National Planning Framework (NPF), in particular on National Policy Objective (NPO) 19 which relates to rural housing. This objective makes a clear policy distinction between rural areas under urban influence (i.e. areas within the commuter catchment of cities, towns and centres of employment) on the one hand, and structurally weaker rural areas where population levels may be low or declining, on the other. NPO 19 is also aligned with the established approach whereby considerations of social (intrinsic part of the community) or economic (persons working full or part time) need are to be applied by planning authorities in rural areas under urban influence.

The draft Rural Housing Guidelines will set out relevant planning criteria to be applied in local authority development plans for rural housing, based on the high level policy framework set by the NPF. The guidelines will continue to allow county development plans to provide for housing in the countryside based on the considerations detailed in NPO 19 of the NPF, and will also highlight the need to manage development in certain areas, such as the areas around cities and larger towns and environmentally sensitive areas, in order to avoid over-development.

The draft guidelines are currently subject to legal review and Ministerial approval, following which it is intended that the draft guidelines will be published for a period of public consultation.

In the interim period, NPF objectives together with the previous 2005 Guidelines, enable planning authorities to continue to prepare and adopt development plan policies for one-off housing in rural areas. The majority of the 31 local authority development plans have recently been reviewed and are consistent with the NPF. This is reflected in the fact that rural housing continues to be an important component of overall new housing delivery in Ireland, with strong output in 2022 with 4,743 new dwellings built in rural areas, up 16.6% from 4,069 in 2021.

Housing for All contains a suite of actions to comprehensively address the housing crisis and to increase housing supply, including in rural areas. Central to the Plan are measures to accelerate the delivery of new homes whilst also continuing to deliver on the fundamental reforms set out in the Plan including the review and consolidation of the Planning and Development Act to include statutory timelines for decision making.

The recent increase in resourcing of An Bord Pleanála, as well as a significant increase in the allocation of resource to the planning functions of local authorities, will enable the tackling of the backlog of decisions and ensure that resources are in place to meet the statutory decision making timelines set out in planning legislation. This is intended to deliver more, and more timely, issuing of permissions in future which will support further increases in new residential development.

More widely, the Government is also providing significant investment in rural Ireland including 215 projects worth a total of €542 million under the Rural Regeneration and Development Fund (RRDF) and over €149 million through the Town and Village Renewal Scheme (TVRS) since 2016. These investment programmes and others aligned with Our Rural Future, the National Rural Development Policy, are transforming rural communities with new infrastructure and public amenities for our citizens.

In addition, the Croi Conaithe (Towns) Fund, Help to Buy Scheme and Temporary Waiver in respect of Development Contributions for new housing are financially assisting those seeking to build new homes in rural Ireland. The Croí Cónaithe Towns Fund is supporting the refurbishment of vacant and derelict properties through Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant and the provision of serviced sites for people to build their own homes through the Ready to Build Scheme. On 1 May, the Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant was expanded and further increase the number of vacant and derelict properties brought back into use. Details of the expansion are as follows:

(i). The inclusion of one property which will be made available for rent, by the owner, in addition to one grant for a property which will be a principal private residence of the applicant i.e. a maximum of two applications for a grant will be available;

(ii). Changing the eligibility date, which is currently 1993 for the build date, to include vacant and derelict properties built up to and including 2007; and

(iii). Increase of the current maximum grant rates from €30,000 to €50,000 for vacant properties and from €50,000 to €70,000 for derelict properties

In order to activate planning permissions for new homes the Government has provided for a Temporary Time-Limited Waiver in respect of Development Contributions to local authorities as well as Uisce Éireann water and waste water connection charges. This applies to all permitted residential development that commences on site within one year of 25 April 2023 (i.e. not later than 24 April 2024) and is completed not later than 31 December 2025. It is estimated that the combined average benefit of introducing the development contribution waiver and Uisce Éireann connection charge refund arrangements would be of the order of circa €12,651 per housing unit based on a national average.