(This article is produced by our Gaeltacht team. You can read an English version of this piece here)

A LETTER HAS BEEN sent to the Gaeltacht Minister, Dara Calleary, asking him to clarify his understanding of Gaeltacht planning guidelines which he and previous holders of the portfolio have repeatedly promised since 2022 would be available ‘soon’ but which will now not be issued until 2027.

The Housing Plan issued by the Government on 13 November stated that a Planning Statement for Housing in the Gaeltacht would be issued in the first half of 2027.

Following inquiries by The Journal, the Department of Housing confirmed that the legislation under which planning guidelines were previously issued had been repealed at the beginning of October. The same statement stated that national planning statements would now be issued in accordance with legislation which came into force later in October.

In its letter, Bánú expressed concern that the Minister was indicating in an interview on Adhmhaidin on RTÉ Ráidió na Gaeltachta on 17 November ‘that he himself was working hard with the Minister for Housing on preparing Planning Guidelines for the Gaeltacht’ even though the legislation under which the same guidelines were issued had been repealed six weeks earlier.

“Were you and officials in your Department unaware that ‘Planning Guidelines’ would be ending under Section 28 of the Planning Act 2000?,” the letter to the Minister asks.

“If so, does that not indicate a serious lack of communication between you and the Minister for Housing on the issue? It would be helpful if you could clarify that point for us and the public.”

In Bánú’s letter, the campaign pressure group also indicated that they were disappointed at the failure to ‘provide funding in the estimates for the use of housing for Irish speakers in the Gaeltacht’.

In the Bánú  letter, the campaign group also expressed disappointment at the failure to ‘provide funding in the estimates for use in providing housing for Irish speakers in the Gaeltacht’.

The group expressed its disappointment that ‘the Minister did not appear to have any intention of using legislation to ‘introduce any kind of support scheme that would support Irish speakers in finding a place to live in a Gaeltacht area’.

The letter also stated that Bánú had met with officials from the Department of the Gaeltacht and at that meeting the group’s proposals regarding the use of various schemes such as ‘Ready to Build’ were discussed and the group asked whether additional capital funding could be provided to the Authority which would allow the agency to prepare land in its possession so that it would be ready for housing to be built on.

At that meeting, a request was made for a larger grant for applicants for the scheme to build houses in Gaeltacht areas under the ‘Croí Cónaithe’ scheme which supports people who wish to renovate derelict houses.

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Bánú also raised the question of whether the Gaeltacht housing grant could be brought back. It was said that it would be a great help if the support was brought back after it was discontinued in 2008 due to the financial crisis at the time.

During the meeting, Bánú also asked the Department of Gaeltacht to establish a loan scheme to help Irish speakers ‘bridge the gap between the maximum mortgage available and the cost of building/buying, on the same basis as the Department of Housing’s ‘First Home’ scheme’.

A response to the issues raised by Bánú has been sought from the Department of Gaeltacht.

Previously, when the matter was raised with the Minister following his interview on Adhmhaidin, a spokesperson issued a statement which said that Minister Calleary “was in regular contact with Minister Browne about the publication of the National Plannings Statements ( formerly Planning Guidelines) for Gaeltacht areas.

“Minister Calleary has stressed the importance of more resources being put towards this process and is very keen for Statement to be published ahead of the timeline issued by D/Housing last week.”

The Journal’s Gaeltacht initiative is supported by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme