Ahern backing for one-off rural housing

THE Government is to change the planning laws to allow one-off houses to be built in rural areas.

Describing it as arguably the “biggest issue in Ireland”, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said he was determined to change the current planning policy that restricts development in designated zones, in or around, towns and villages.

He described the current situation where young couples cannot get planning permission to build houses in the countryside as a huge problem and an enormously divisive issue.