Michael Collins urges action on rural planning and housing
Michael Collins addressed housing and rural planning in the Dáil, urging the minister to change course. He warned of a potential shortfall of 13,000 homes by 2027, criticised rural planning guidelines for causing planning refusals and called for the minister to appear before the Dáil on wastewater treatment plants.
He told the minister that predecessors had made no movement on housing and that, from what he had read in the papers, the State looks set to be about 13,000 homes short of its targets by 2027. He urged the minister to look at housing in a different light and to act "very, very soon."
He argued the rural planning guidelines operate against those applying for planning — parents, young people and couples trying to get started — and said constituents are repeatedly refused for what he described as simplistic or silly reasons. He said many people come to his clinics seven, eight, nine, ten every week after refusals and urged earlier intervention to prevent cases reaching that point.
He explicitly said he does not blame individual planners for the refusals but blames the rural planning guidelines, calling them structured to block young people from getting planning on their own lands and farms. He described the current situation as unjustified and unsustainable.
He listed localities such as Dunmanway, Shannon Vale, Bella de Hobbes, Goldeen and Scotland in connection with wastewater treatment plant issues but did not go into detailed case-by-case complaints in this speech. He pressed the minister to come before the Dáil and said he is seeking five weeks in business committees for the minister to speak on wastewater treatment plants, noting that this has not yet happened.
Housing shortfall warning
He told the minister that predecessors had made no movement on housing and that, from what he had read in the papers, the State looks set to be about 13,000 homes short of its targets by 2027. He urged the minister to look at housing in a different light and to act "very, very soon."
Rural planning guidelines and planning refusals
He argued the rural planning guidelines operate against those applying for planning — parents, young people and couples trying to get started — and said constituents are repeatedly refused for what he described as simplistic or silly reasons. He said many people come to his clinics seven, eight, nine, ten every week after refusals and urged earlier intervention to prevent cases reaching that point.
Responsibility for refusals
He explicitly said he does not blame individual planners for the refusals but blames the rural planning guidelines, calling them structured to block young people from getting planning on their own lands and farms. He described the current situation as unjustified and unsustainable.
Wastewater treatment plants and parliamentary scrutiny
He listed localities such as Dunmanway, Shannon Vale, Bella de Hobbes, Goldeen and Scotland in connection with wastewater treatment plant issues but did not go into detailed case-by-case complaints in this speech. He pressed the minister to come before the Dáil and said he is seeking five weeks in business committees for the minister to speak on wastewater treatment plants, noting that this has not yet happened.
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Transcript
Minister, we are years here talking about housing in the Dáil here. I listened to the Fianna Fáil Deputy there who spoke previously and I have to agree with him. We, you know, in relation to Ukrainians and others, we have been promising all sorts of construction can be made and all sorts of structures can be built, but we cannot do anything for our own self. That is something we need to do here very, very soon, Minister. I hope you will look at housing in a different light than your predecessors, because your predecessors made no movement in relation to housing in this country and to the worst things they have got. It looks like you are going to be 13,000 short of your targets, from what I can read in the papers today by 2027, but you do not need to be. The first thing, and I brought this up today with the Taoiseach, is about rural planning and rural planning guidelines. They are absolutely, completely 100% against the person that is applying for the planning. The mother, the father, the young person, the young couple that are trying to get off the ground minister, and they need your help. And I hope you are listening to me here today, Minister, because it is hugely important to these people. They come into my clinics, maybe seven, eight, nine, ten, every week looking for planning, and they have been refused planning, and they have been refused planning. And then I look, I often say to them, please come to me before, it is like the train has gone from the station and then you come to me, come to me before you go on the train and then we might be able to do something for you, because when you get refused, but the simplistic silly stuff they get refused on. And I do not actually blame the planners on this, Minister, I blame the rural planning guidelines. They are absolutely built to make sure that young people will not get planning in their own lands and their own farms, fair and honest planning. That is totally unjustified, and it cannot continue. And I could spend ages talking here about Dunmanway and Shannon Vale and Bella de Hobbes and Goldeen and Scotland in relation to wastewater treatment plants, Minister, but I am not going to know, because we might have a speech later on on housing, but we do need to concentrate on situations where Ish Gairdn have delivered on wastewater treatment plants, Minister, and you need to come here before the Dáil. I am looking for five weeks in business committees for you to come before the Dáil to speak in relation to wastewater treatment plants, and that has not happened as of yet.