Rural Planning: Statements Seanad Éireann — 2026-06-10 ============================================================ Victor Boyhan (IND), Agricultural Panel I welcome the Minister of State to the Seanad. The proposal is a welcome move. I have considered all of his points, a few of which I will reference. He spoke about a public consultation, which is important. I wrote to his Department regarding modular units at the back of houses, a matter which went to a period of public consultation. That consultation has not been published on the Department's website. I had no support from the Department when I made inquiries on behalf of people who made submissions to the public consultation process. I have not spoken to the Minister of State directly, to be fair, but I have sent correspondence to the Minister and Department. If we are going to have a consultation, it has to be meaningful and transparent. If I make a submission to my county development plan, I am listed as having made a submission. Such information is listed in the appendices of the report on the consultation. If we are having a consultation, it must be genuine, open and transparent. I could submit a freedom of information request, and I have been advised that I would get that information. That is not the way we should be doing our business. If people make submissions to a statutory or non-statutory public consultation initiated by the Minister of State's Department, or any other Department, we need to see greater transparency. I am no stranger to making requests since the Flemish decree. I have a letter from the Minister, Deputy Browne, dated 24 July 2025. I have a letter from the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, and one from the Minister, Deputy Browne, from October 2025. I have a letter from the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, dated 30 October 2024. I had a Commencement matter with the then Minister of State, Deputy Kieran O'Donnell, on 22 March 2023. The Minister, Deputy Burke, was one of the greatest supporters of rural housing. He had responsibility for planning, development and housing in the Minister of State's Department and was effectively doing the same job he is doing now. In correspondence he said people should have the right to live where they come from. I very much welcome that approach. He was very supportive of the planning guidelines and expected progress. We have been told for many years that planning guidelines were imminent and had been drafted. There have been some changes. Let us have less of the history lesson. We are where we are today and I want to welcome that. I want to reference a press release I issued to Agriland on 13 November 2025 in which I said that it was with some disappointment that I discovered that there was no clarity on the rural housing guidelines, which it was expected would be addressed as part of the national housing policy. When the national housing policy was published, there was great expectation. A number of farm organisations said they expected one-off rural housing objectives to be included in the national housing plan. That did not happen. We were told that there would be these national planning statements and they would address the issues into the future. We are now hearing we will have them in the second half of this year. That is to be welcomed although things are a bit slow. Clearly, one-off housing on family-owned land and farm homesteads is something people feel they have a right to. The Minister of State represents an urban and a rural constituency and is very versed and capable in planning. I served on the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage with him and know his in-depth knowledge and commitment in this area. That is not in question and I want to say that to him. I acknowledge the enormous work and expertise he has in this area. However, farmers in rural communities want to be able to have their children live on their land. They work the soil and have sweat on their brow. They are very proud of their achievement, to initially have a modest holding and expand it over generations into a more substantial holding. They want to celebrate the fruits of their labour. The homestead, the family farm is at the very heart of that. Many of them are indigenous people. The Minister of State touched on the Gaeltacht and I welcome that, it is important. We need housing guidance for the islands as well. They are unique. The Gaeltacht is unique, the indigenous Irish speakers; indeed the Minister of State has a Gaeltacht in his own county of Waterford, and that is an important recognition. I also wish to acknowledge that Deputy Albert Dolan, who was then a councillor, did an awful lot of work and has been a great advocate in Galway, as indeed was Councillor Geraldine Donohue. These were two councillors on Galway County Council who kept the pressure on, kept asking the questions and indeed Deputy Dolan is now a TD for the constituency. I see from parliamentary questions that he has been knocking at the door. We all know the case but at the end of the day it is important. There was an article quite recently on how depopulation was reaching crisis levels for the GAA in south Kerry. We have GAA clubs that are closing down. I have been speaking to bishops in the Catholic Church and indeed every other congregation. Churches are closing down. There are many reasons for that, but at the very heart of our rural communities there are national schools closing down. The knock-on effect of depopulation in some places is impacting on trade, shops and agriculture. We see marts closing down. There are many other reasons and I cannot attribute it all to housing but it is a very substantial part of it. I welcome the decision to honour, at long last, a commitment as it had been at the Attorney General's and everyone else's office. Our Rural Future: Rural Development Policy 2021-2025 is now out of date but cross-departmental work is taking place on a new iteration of that plan. I pay tribute to Deputy Dara Calleary and indeed Heather Humphreys, the former Minister. It is a wonderful Department and a lovely space to work in. They have really advocated on housing. For the few months since this has lapsed, there were some key objectives set down by our current Minister. One was measure 90, that is, to update the rural housing guidelines for planning authorities to address rural housing in the broader rural development context. I genuinely welcome what is happening. It took a hell of a long time. It is happening on the Minister of State's watch and I acknowledge that. Whatever we do, let us have a draft of the guidelines and let us put them out to meaningful consultation. I do not think it would be right to put out any sense of guidelines. We need to take an extra few weeks, or a month or two, to get real input for the public consultation and feedback. If the Minister of State can do so, I urge him to commit to publishing the feedback from that consultation because it is important also. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-06-10/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:02+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-06-10