Fitzmaurice: Govt needs to 'take a completely different look at rural housing'
The government needs "to take a completely different look at rural housing" when it comes to letting people build on their family farms, according to the Independent Ireland TD Michael Fitzmaurice.
The Roscommon-Galway TD believes that if "a person's family comes from a farm, or whatever, they should be able to build on that farm".
He said this will help to deliver new houses in rural areas.
"This is about an emergency now," the Independent Ireland TD added.
"Thankfully, the electricity came to all parts of Ireland years ago, the water is around, and thankfully we have a road.
"What is the big idea then that we should not build on it because people can work from home now with the broadband which will be a help?" Deputy Fitzmaurice said in the Dáil yesterday (Thursday, February 27).
Several TD's expressed concerns about housing developments in rural Ireland during the Dáil debate following the publication of a new report from the Housing Commission.
The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, James Browne also acknowledged that the high levels of vacant houses in rural areas is a "serious issue".
According to the minister, with the assistance of government grants, 1,349 vacant properties were converted into homes in 2024.
The government came under criticism from TDs for their approach to the problem.
Sinn Féin TD Eoin Ó'Broin believes that "we will be no further along" until the government publishes rural planning guidelines.
Fine Gael TD for Wicklow, Edward Timmons also said he "completely disagrees" with the report's plan to "strengthen the environmental and planning thresholds for single housing in rural areas".
Meanwhile Deputy Timmons criticised a proposal that would revoke amendments to building control regulations which allow opt-outs from regulations for single dwellings, and a proposal to increase development levies on rural dwellings.
"The point relates to the national planning framework," he said.
"The delay in this being issued has resulted in 325 houses being refused planning permission in Blessington, Co. Wicklow, because the town population targets were too low as the new population targets were not issued by the framework."
"This is purely a red tape issue that has stopped this badly needed house building and there is a really simple fix," he added.
According to Fianna Fáil TD, Malcolm Byrne, building 50,000 homes is going to cost €1.7 billion. He believes the government needs to invest that money into water infrastructure in rural Ireland.
"If we are to move away from one-off rural housing, which there are solid planning reasons for doing save where it is a family living on the land, we should incentivise people to live in the villages where they grew up, work and have connections," he said.
"The problem, however, as the Minister of State knows, is that there is not sufficient water capacity in most of our villages."
The Fine Gael TD for Louth, Paula Butterly, also pointed out that current rural housing restrictions mean that young people "are being denied an opportunity to build a home in their community".
"Sometimes when I look at the reasons, I shake my head in disbelief as some of them seem nonsensical," she said.
