Peter Chap-Clear

I mean, the planning system was largely designed for a different era 20 years ago.

But the pandemic showed us that jobs no longer have to be concentrated in our larger cities.

So housing policy should reflect this reality and allow more people to live where they want to live in rural Ireland.

Yeah, and this is not about concrete over the countryside.

This is about sensible, sustainable development that will support communities while protecting the environment.

So people are the lifeblood of rural Ireland.

Communities cannot survive without housing and the planning system needs to make it easier for people that have genuine local connections to live

where they grow up or where they're working.

And I think that's a very, very sensible policy.

It's something that's been coming up very, very strong on the ground and it's something I'm very passionate about as Fianna Fáil spokesperson in Rural Affairs that we get these improvements made over the next number of weeks.

There will, but that's one of the challenges there is the inconsistencies at the moment, the inconsistent decisions that are between counties.

So, for example, sometimes, you know, the distance you live can be a greater concern than the quality of the application.

So, you know, sometimes the local needs test can be too restrictive and one county's interpretation can be different to another.

So it needs to be updated.

It needs to be made more consistent.

But all of this is done with a view that if you're from rural Ireland, that you should be able to live and build a house in your community, on your family lands.

And that was going to be a massive positive for thousands of your listeners out there this morning.

Yeah, absolutely.

And if you look at the situation and just to pick up on the point there in terms of whether it be rural or village or a town, I mean, no matter what your preference is, if you have a connection to an area, you should have the opportunity to live and to rear your family and set down even stronger roots in that community.

That's number one.