Independent Senator Victor Boyhan has called on all political parties to make rural housing commitments a key issue in the next programme for government after the general election.
The Irish electorate will go to the polls to elect the next Dáil on Friday, November 29.
Senator Boyhan who was member of the Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage and the Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine said there must be a commitment to develop new housing options for rural communities.
“I sit on the Oireachtas Joint Committee for Agriculture, Food and the Marine and I strongly advocate for the need to strengthen rural communities and economic sustainability,” he said.
“Very recently I received a letter from the [then] Minister Darragh O’Brien, referring to correspondence from me about rural housing guidelines. The minister stated [that] the draft guidelines are subject to legal review and ministerial approval, following which it is intended that they would be published for a period of public consultation.
“We are now heading into a general election – what rural communities want to know now is what’s happening about the long promised rural planning guidelines, ” Boyhan added.
“Rural communities want to see a pathway for their own to build homes for family members connected to their area. They want sustainable, rural communities. They want their siblings to live close by them, with them, near to them.
“They want to see their parishes, schools and sports clubs survive. They want to go hand in hand and make their rural communities, their land of origin where they are deeply rooted, sustainable,” he said.
Despite all of the political talk, Boyhan said that they still await commitment from a government about new rural planning guidelines.
“I am calling for all parties and none to commit to need publishing the long-promised news Rural Guidelines,” Boyhan continued.
“In those guidelines I want to see absolute clarity around pre-planning consultation process so that applicants and planning authorities can work together on the best site options on which a new house can be built.
“From talking to housing applicants turned down and their experience with planning officials, it’s clear that there needs to be strong and objective planning criteria, understood by all sides in the process.”
Rural housing
Senator Boyhan said those born and raised in Ireland want to be able to come home.
“Returning emigrants must be able to live and work in the areas from which they came, and were they have strong roots and family ties.
“This issue must be dealt with in new planning guidelines. It is vital for [the] wellbeing of rural communities and the rural economy that young people can reside close to elderly family members and be able to plan for their own retirement.
“New planning guidelines must facilitate and enable planning authorities to respond positively to the housing needs of rural communities.
“This must be recognised as an integral part of the sustainable development of rural communities rural and indeed more remote areas were active farming prevails,” he concluded.