Picture: Valerie O’Sullivan
Of a total of 121 planning applications in Kerry’s Gaeltacht areas between 2020 and 2024, only 12 homes were granted planning permission, it has been confirmed.
The figure was down from 18 in 2023, 32 in 2022 and 21 in 2021.
Ireland South MEP, Cynthia Ní Mhurchú, said the figures she received from Kerry County Council have made her angry as it shows that “there isn’t a pipeline of home building” for families to keep Gaeltacht areas alive.
She said when West Kerry man Breanndán Ó Beaglaoich and other Kerry Gaeltacht campaigners visited the European Parliament in Brussels, they described the frustration of a generation of Kerry Gaeltacht residents who feel locked out of the local housing market.
Ms Ní Mhurchú, in collaboration with Conradh na Gaeilge, is supporting a formal petition to the European Parliament on the housing crisis and how it is impacting on Gaeltacht areas and she called for the long awaited Gaeltacht planning guidelines to be published.
The MEP said she hopes these guidelines will allow local authorities to be more flexible in granting planning permission in Gaeltacht areas – in particular for fluent Irish speakers.
Ní Mhurchú has also called on her colleagues in government to immediately introduce special development plans for Gaeltacht areas with specific housing targets, as promised in the Programme for Government.
Advertisers: Get your message to thousands of people every day. Call 087-2229761 or email news@killarneytoday.com
