Independent TD, Seán Canney has defended the principle of ‘one-off’ rural housing as a way of help villages survive.

One-off housing is a term used to refer to the building of individual rural houses, outside of towns and villages.

 “A rural house for a local person enables an individual to provide a home in a location of their choice,” deputy Canney said.

“It will enable the person to continue to live in their local community, to raise a family in their local community and to have the support of family and neighbours.”

Rural housing supports local economies

Deputy Canney said that allowing family members to build a home near or on family land means that those areas will remain sustainable into the future. He added:

“The person may get a site on the family farm or purchase a site locally. This development will support the local national school, local shop, local post office and the local sports clubs.

“People will argue that this type of rural development is contrary to good planning and that we should only build houses in towns and villages.

“The reality is that many of our towns and villages cannot accommodate houses because they do not possess wastewater services.

“We cannot allow our rural areas to die; we cannot allow our communities to die.”

Flemish Decree

The Flemish Decree case taken in the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that restrictions on where people can live, breached the treaty on the free movement of citizens.

“I am adamant that Irish people have the same rights of free movement and certainly local people have the right to remain living in their own communities,” Canney added.

“I am also concerned that bodies like TII [Transport Infrastructure Ireland] are also dictating who can build and where people can build which is giving them unwarranted powers.

“I am calling on the minister to ensure we continue to enjoy freedom of movement,” he concluded.