Employment brings life to rural Ireland and helps support our unique culture, including things like the GAA and many other traditions that are part of our culture and such a positive part of our society. In particular, can the Minister look at ways of supporting the economic development sections of our county councils? Some have significant resources but many, including County Wicklow, have limited resources. We also need to be careful regarding the tourism sector and Airbnbs. Airbnbs bring tourists to parts of Ire…

Much of small-town Ireland has a shortage of housing yet no house building. House building would provide valuable employment. Currently, it is not viable to build houses as the cost to build exceeds the selling price. This is never mentioned in discussions on housing. However, it means that much of Ireland has no house building and yet there is a demand. We must look at strategies to allow house building in these areas through increased affordable housing, and reduce the cost of building a house, such as through th…

The N81 national road runs from Tallaght in south Dublin through west Wicklow and onward to Carlow. It functions as the principal transport artery for west Wicklow and parts of counties Kildare and Carlow. I will make two major points. The N81 is one of the most dangerous roads in the country, as proven by several studies. Second, the N81 is the only national road out of Dublin that has never been upgraded. It carries major traffic volumes. A preferred route option was chosen but shelved in 2018. This needs to be p…

Following the publication of the national planning framework, NPF, will the Minister of State advise when the local authorities will receive their revised population figures? It is important that these guidelines are rolled out to county councils as soon as possible to allow them to amend their county development plans and local area plans. Because of the delay, I have seen a planning application for 335 houses in Blessington, County Wicklow, which is supported by the council and all elected representatives, being …

On a related matter, I want to bring up the issue of headroom. At this stage, no guidance has been issued on this. From my experience of development plans, the previous directive from the Office of the Planning Regulator was 0% headroom, which is very misguided. It is imperative that there is a considerable percentage headroom because in practice many sites will not be developed for various reasons. All landowners are not ready to be developers and in the real world, site development often has many obstacles, inclu…

From a national point of view, councils must be closely involved in the delivery of housing. Delivery must be micromanaged. These county targets must be drilled down further, with monthly figures produced by all local authorities of actual homes built versus targets and explanations given. This is the only way to deliver large numbers of houses. The Minister must then meet the CEOs of the councils and the heads of planning on a quarterly basis. This method is exactly the way a business would aim to achieve its targ…

I welcome the extension of rent pressure zones to all parts of the country. By any measure, this Government and the previous one have done many things to protect renters. I want to blow away the myth that tenants are not protected in this country. I have experience of other European countries. These are often cited as being much more favourable to tenants. This is often not the case. In Germany, for example, if tenants do not pay their rent for two months in a row, landlords can quickly get a court order to evict t…

Baltinglass, a small town in west Wicklow, contains nine hillforts in its vicinity. It is described by experts as the hillfort capital of Ireland. Research work and archaeological digs have been conducted by Dr. Alan Hawkes and Dr. James O'Driscoll under the auspices of Professor William O'Brien, all from University College Cork. This has further revealed many other ancient sites. The lead researchers have described the area as the archaeological capital of Ireland. I bring this to the attention of the House and as…

I wish to bring my experience as a county councillor to the topic of vacant homes. I was until recently a member of Wicklow County Council. A number of years ago as the housing challenges became more acute, I proposed that every month councillors receive a total number of vacant houses, broken down by district. This could be discussed every month at our full council meeting. This happened. I also asked that the list be aged by how long the houses were vacant. The proposal was adopted by the council. My logic for in…

The average cost across the country is €28,000, as per the most recent NOAC report. There is a national spend of over €100 million. The Government provides €11,000 per house and not €800. The waiting times can clearly be improved. Some counties take an average of 60 weeks for a refurbishment while one takes only 13 weeks. However, there are a variety of reasons for delays, including delays with contractors, the time taken for full retrofits and tenant refusals of properties. I reiterate that we need to monitor vaca…

I will highlight a totally unfair flaw in the operation of the fair deal scheme as it relates to land transfers. This is causing great financial hardship for families. I will explain how this operates. This rule must be changed. In over 20 years in politics, I have never come across such an unfair system. I have raised this matter previously. If a family transfers land within five years of the owner entering a nursing home, this land is valued and, if the recipient leases the land, he or she must pay the nursing ho…

How quickly will the new national planning framework, NPF, housing targets be given to the county councils so they can amend their county development plans? Currently many planning permissions are being refused because the development plan's core strategy has population targets too low. Given this delay, I have seen a planning application for 335 houses in Blessington, County Wicklow, supported by the council and all elected members refused by An Bord Pleanála because the local area plan was not up to date with the…

I want to raise two other related matters. The Minister of State has referred to one of them, which is headroom. The time taken for these amendments to the county development plan is too long as it can take up to nine months. Can we look to expedite this timeframe? To discuss in more detail the issue of headroom, from my experience of development plans, the previous direction from the Office of the Planning Regulator was 0% headroom, which is very misguided. It is imperative that there be a considerable percentage …

I often see a gap between the way the councils operate and what happens here in Leinster House. The councils need to be closely involved in the delivery of housing. Delivery must be micromanaged. These targets must be drilled down further, with monthly figures produced by all local authorities of actuals versus targets, and explanations given. This is the only way to deliver a large number of houses. The Minister must then meet the CEOs of the councils and the head of planning on, say, a quarterly basis. This metho…

I want to raise the issue of the proposed closure of Herbert Road in Bray. It is an essential route for residents, emergency services and local businesses and almost everyone in the town and the wider area is against its closure. The closure of the junction will create significant traffic congestion in north Wicklow. Closing Herbert Road and improving the bus corridor should not be mutually exclusive. A more balanced approach would be to terminate the southbound bus lane before the Herbert Road junction. As a resul…

It is time to support the entire community of Bray.

I have a proposal that might be a solution. We have all diagnosed the problem fairly well at this stage. A total of 83,000 applicants were waiting for driver tests in April. The proposal I have today may help solve the long driver test waiting times. Will the RSA work with the approved driver instructors, ADI, in a more effective way? Often the ADI are not fully aware of all aspects involved in a driver test. I call on the RSA to co-operate and use the ADI. The approved driver instructors comprise a large resource …

It is important that these guidelines are rolled out to the county councils as soon as possible to allow them to amend their county development and local area plans. Because of the delay, I have seen a planning application for 335 houses in Blessington, County Wicklow, which was supported by the council and all the elected members, refused by An Bord Pleanála because the local area plan was not up to date with the new housing targets. No guidance has been issued at this stage on headroom. From my experience of deve…

We all know the huge benefit international trade has had on this country. On a finance basis alone, of the €97 billion we take in in taxes, more than €50 billion is attributable to our multinationals by way of corporation tax, VAT and PAYE. This supports all the services this State supplies, including health, social welfare and education. I often think this fact is lost on many people. I wish to raise four specific issues relating to tariffs. First, I will put some context on the current effective tariffs. Second, …

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