Housing campaigners in Connemara have written to the Minister for the Gaeltacht to express concern over announced plans for rural and Gaeltacht planning guidelines.
A memo was presented to Cabinet yesterday by Housing Minister James Browne and Minister of State for Planning outlining draft planning guidelines for housing in rural and Gaeltacht areas.
The Connemara-based housing campaign group BÁNÚ, however, have expressed concern that the draft statement, as currently written, would actually reduce the percentage of houses in multi-unit Gaeltacht developments that are required to be reserved for Irish speakers.
In a letter seen by the Advertiser, the group urged the Minister for the Gaeltacht, Dara Calleary, to liaise with the Housing Minister to ensure that a consultation process be established, and said that the draft guidelines would do damage to protections for the Irish language.
The letter also said that in the Cois Fharraige area of Connemara, 80 per cent of houses in multi-unit developments are set aside for Irish speakers; however, if the new guidelines, as drafted, are implemented, this would be reduced to 58 per cent.
“A statement like this cannot be accepted — one that makes the Gaeltacht weaker and does not give proper protection to Irish speakers in the Gaeltacht when they are seeking housing,” said Donncha Ó hÉallaithe from BÁNÚ.
“It is vitally important that a consultation be organised, as we can see the harm that has been done by the lack of consultation to date.”
Mr Ó hÉallaithe also said that the draft guidelines demonstrated how the Government had failed to listen to Gaeltacht communities in recent years.
“It is clear that neither the Department of the Gaeltacht nor the Department of Housing listened to us over the past five years, and an emergency meeting is now being sought,” he said.
Before the publication of the draft guidelines, BÁNÚ had also expressed concerns over reports that Irish-speaking Gaeltacht residents would need to have lived within three kilometres of a proposed dwelling to secure planning permission for a one-off housing development.
In the draft guidelines, it says that Gaeltacht applicants would still need to demonstrate that they have a local housing need in line with regulations for the rest of the country, whereby applicants need to have lived or worked within a 10km radius of a proposed site for at least seven years.
However, the draft guidelines also say that planning authorities can apply “a level of flexibility” in the Gaeltacht where the required level of language competency can be demonstrated “in line with the principle of the free movement of Irish speakers between Gaeltachts.”
It appears that the controversial three-kilometre rule will apply in some capacity however it is still not clear if it will apply to Irish speakers who are moving from one Gaeltacht to another.
The draft statement also proposes introducing the concept of “Inter-Gaeltacht Recognition”, which is intended to make it easier for Irish speakers living in one Gaeltacht area to move to live and work in another Gaeltacht area.
For example, an Irish speaker who wished to build their first home in Connemara would need to have lived in any Gaeltacht in the country for five years to benefit from the regulations.
It is still unclear if this applies to Irish speakers, moving across Gaeltachts in different counties, across different Language Planning Areas or outside the three kilometre radius of the proposed site in the Gaeltacht.
The Minister for the Gaeltacht, Dara Calleary, welcomed the publication of the draft statement.
“This draft policy strengthens our system for protecting the Irish language in Gaeltacht areas,” he said.
“It makes support for Irish in the Gaeltacht clearer and more consistent by setting out language criteria that can be submitted with applications for new individual rural dwellings, and by requiring that Irish speakers occupy a proportion of homes in multi-unit developments.”
The Minister added that it was “important to say that the policy also recognises that the Gaeltacht community has its own distinct culture, language and identity
Under the new planning guidelines, local authorities will in future use a standardised Irish-language test to assess the fluency of people applying for planning permission in the Gaeltacht.
One member of the household will be required to have B2 level proficiency in TEG (Teastas Eorpach Gaeilge – the European Certificate in Irish ), which is the same level expected of someone entering training to become a primary school teacher.
