OPINION: Already nearly impossible to secure, planning permission is becoming even more difficult to obtain in Kerry and young couples who are very often refused the go-ahead to build in the countryside to be near their parents are left with no option but the pay vast sums of money to purchase a property in urban areas like Killarney. The time has come to give them a break, writes Deputy Danny Healy-Rae (pictured left)
I am not exaggerating when I say planning permission in Kerry is very difficult to obtain at present and it is becoming more and more difficult as the days go on.
I have raised previously with the Taoiseach the issue of national primary and national secondary roads. It is ironic to think that it was he who gave Transport Infrastructure Ireland the powers in 2013, as Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, that have prevented a whole lot of people and families, whether they are farmers or relatives of farmers, from getting permission to exit through their own entrance onto a national primary or national secondary road, even if there is an existing entrance.
In the most recent debate I had with the Taoiseach, he stated he did not agree with a blanket ban. Engineers in Kerry County Council know the rules and regulations as regards safety when coming on to such a road and the distances outside that are required but, as it stands, there is no planning to be had along a national primary or national secondary road.
We have somewhere between 450 miles and 500 miles of national primary and national secondary roads. That is the extent to which people are deprived. Kerry has more miles of that category of road than any other county, given there are motorways going through the rest of them.
If someone were coming out on to a county council road that has been taken in charge, they could access the primary road no bother but if they were coming out with right of way where there were 20 houses and the road had not been taken in charge, such a person would be denied the right even to apply for planning permission and it would be a waste of time.
In Killarney, we are further impacted by the national park to the south of the town. A minister stated the other day that he was going to issue a compulsory purchase order for more lands around the 26,000 acres we have in Killarney already. When is enough enough?
People are trying to provide houses for themselves. Then there is the scenario where the proposed route for the new Killarney bypass, from Farranfore to Lissiviggeen and from Lissiviggeen to the Kenmare road coming into Killarney, has been going on for 20 years and about four routes have been proposed.
Hundreds of acres have been sterilised. People cannot apply for planning permission. When they ask TII whether their site is within that range, hundreds of fellas have been denied the right again to apply.
Other areas are under significant urban pressure. On the instructions of the Planning Regulator, a whole lot of additional lands in Kilcummin, Tiernaboul and into Rathmore and Barraduff have been placed under significant urban pressure, which means that only a farmer’s son or daughter can get planning permission, yet the young fella next door might have lived all his life there.
It is like the girl in Kilcummin the other day who had found a site 1km away from her home. She lives 10 miles out from Killarney. She has no hope of getting planning permission. No services are coming out there. She just wants to build a house to be near her parents.
The only place to go is into towns or villages but then there are no treatment plants. We have a whole raft of them, up to 30, waiting to be rejuvenated or extended or, in places such as Scartaglin or Curragh, to get a treatment plant. They do not have one.
I appeal to the minister to do something to allow people to get planning permission or to make it easier. These people will build the house themselves and pay for it but they are finding it impossible to get planning permission.
Their only option at present, in that vast area, is to go into Killarney to try to buy a house for €700,000. That is not on. The people of Kerry, including east Kerry, are being totally blackguarded.
- Submissions for KillarneyToday.com’s OPINION section, which should be topical, relevant and not exceed 500 words, can be emailed to news@killarneytoday.com and clearly marked ‘Opinion’.
