Farmers approve housing move

Ireland: The country’s two largest farmer bodies, the IFA and ICMSA, have welcomed Taoiseach Bertie Ahern’s support for one-off rural housing.

IFA Environmental Committee chairman Francis Fanning said the National Spatial Strategy (NSS) must now be fully implemented by all local authorities.

For too long, families and rural communities have been at the mercy of planners and lobby groups who clearly oppose the NSS and have been campaigning against the freedom of people choosing where they wish to live, he said.