One-off rural homes cannot be used as short-term rentals
James Browne and John Cummins will bring planning guidelines for rural and Gaeltacht housing to Cabinet today in a bid to ease strict rules for building one-off homes. Picture: iStock
People building one-off rural homes will not be allowed to use them as short-term rentals under plans to go to Cabinet today, Tuesday.
Housing minister James Browne and minister of state for planning John Cummins will bring a memo to ministers outlining planning guidelines for rural and Gaeltacht housing in a bid to ease strict rules for building one-off homes in rural areas.
The draft national planning statement will set out the criteria that rural dwellers need to fulfil in order to be allowed to build a home, including social and economic need.
The Government says it will move away from “restrictive planning practices that have been a frustration for people for many years”.
Under the plan, 'local needs' criteria do not apply within rural settlements, but do apply in rural areas under urban influence and Gaeltacht areas.
To qualify for social need, an applicant must have lived in the rural area for a period, usually seven years, at any point in their life.
The site for the new house should also be in or near that area — generally up to 10km from where they currently live or originally come from.
In city metropolitan areas, a person must have lived within 3km of the site for up to 10 years, to stop rural areas from turning into commuter suburbs.
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Economic need will apply to people whose main job depends on living in a rural area.
Remote working does not count, however.
Planning permission will also include a condition to make sure the proposed house is used as a permanent main home for at least 10 years and cannot be used for short-term rentals during that time.
Also at Cabinet, Mr Browne will note changes to social housing list protocols which will allow survivors of domestic, sexual, or gender-based violence to transfer time on the social housing waiting list between different local authorities to ensure that there is no barrier to a household fleeing domestic violence.
Separately, foreign affairs minister Helen McEntee will bring a memo on Ireland’s EU presidency to Cabinet today.
Enterprise minister Peter Burke will outline preparations for the international AI summit, a flagship event of Ireland’s EU presidency, which will be held in Dublin on October 14.
Infrastructure minister Jack Chambers will tell ministers that departments must better explain to communities the real-life benefits of capital projects such as water treatment plants and energy substations earlier.
- Paul Hosford, Deputy Political Editor
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