Taisce against lifting ban on rural housing

THE plan to lift the ban on building single houses in rural Ireland would damage the environment considerably, an Taisce warned last night.

The environmental and heritage watchdog was responding to revelations that the final draft of the National Spatial Strategy includes a national policy statement on one-off rural houses.

People who have connections with the countryside will be allowed to build their own houses as part of the policy, Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs Minister Éamon Ó Cuiv has confirmed.