The implications of the Government’s proposed new rural housing plan for Gaeltacht communities are “deeply worrying”, according to Sinn Féin.
Planning Minister John Cummins and Housing Minister James Brown sent a memo to Cabinet yesterday (June 30) outlining the outlines New planning guidelines for housing in rural and Gaeltacht areas.
The general approach is to facilitate new rural housing for those who need local rural housing.
Sinn Féin spokesman for rural affairs, community development and the Gaeltacht, Conor D., said: McGuinness, the changes proposed in the first reading are very modest.
He said: “Sinn Féin has long championed planning rules in rural and Gaeltacht areas that would allow workers and families to live and thrive.
“The long delay in publishing these guidelines has created confusion, uncertainty and inconsistency in the decisions of our planning authorities.
“The real test of the draft guidelines, and of this Government’s policy on rural Ireland, is whether these communities can recover and grow.
“We have long advocated for planning rules that allow people to build homes in their communities in a way that is socially, economically and environmentally sustainable.”
rules
While Sinn Fein pointed to some positives in the new rules, it stressed that “there is a need to clarify how the new rules will be applied in practice.”
“While there are some positives in the proposed changes to rural planning rules, the implications for Gaeltacht communities are deeply concerning.
“The proposed extended period of five to ten years and the three-kilometre requirement are unclear and need urgent clarification.
“We are concerned that they may exclude Irish speakers who wish to move to existing Gaeltacht communities.”
According to the new plan, in the Gaeltacht areas, the applicant must live within 3 kilometers of the site and must have lived there for 10 years.
Representative McGuinness believes that the Minister of Housing should have included a linguistic condition in his definition of social need and economic need.
He said: “I am also concerned that the planning requirements for private developers set out in the language impact statement appendix could reduce the amount of homes built for Irish speakers.
“The Minister needs to engage with Gaeltacht communities and Irish language advocacy organisations, listen to their real concerns, and amend the draft rules accordingly.
“It also needs to address the ongoing negative impact of unregulated short-term commercial letting on Gaeltacht communities.”
Green Party reaction
Meanwhile, the Green Party has expressed concern that the new rural housing guidelines will impose further requirements on providers, increase the burden on local authorities, undermine the viability of city centres, put more pressure on vulnerable groundwater and increase risks to public health.
Senator Malcolm Noonan, the party’s spokesman for agriculture, food, marine, heritage and nature, said the blanket approach to liberalizing Ireland’s one-off rural housing directive ignores the different dynamics in regions and even within individual counties.
“We have an unbalanced country where pockets of the West and Midlands are seeing population decline, and as we move east, we could see many rural areas suffering from one-time urban-influenced housing stock,” he said.
“This puts pressure on road infrastructure, waste collection services, emergency services and postal services.
“Oil price increases not only impact commuting from these places where public transportation options are lacking, but also impact the cost of repaving and maintaining local road infrastructure.”
The senator described the policy as “poorly thought out” and “more about political expediency” than a plan-led approach to land management, nature and water protection and mobility.
He added that options exist that would greatly benefit rural areas of Ireland; Schools and local services.
“The government must focus more on the town centers program first; exhausting all options for heritage-led regeneration in our towns and villages, but also supporting clustered housing connected to water and sanitation facilities on the outskirts of villages or the use of integrated built wetlands,” the senator said.
“The policy change announced yesterday will present further challenges with regard to poor integration of rural public transport and may not address the core issues driving rural depopulation in some parts of the country; most notably lack of employment opportunities and declining farm incomes on marginal farms.”
The Senator also noted the impact of the storms on rural areas in Ireland.
He said: “If we consider nothing else in all of this, look at the chaos that ensued in rural Ireland in the wake of Storm Eoin.
“It took several months to repair all the electricity infrastructure for the households and created a huge problem around forest setback.
“With storm events likely to become more frequent, how does the government propose to resource resilience in our rural areas by providing more housing?”
