Analysis: There are key differences between the rural housing guidelines published yesterday and last year's draft, writes Frank McDonald.
Fianna Fáil backbenchers and local councillors backing a more liberal regime for housing in the countryside are likely to be disappointed by the sustainable rural housing guidelines, published yesterday by Minister for the Environment Dick Roche.
Despite intensive lobbying, the fine print of the final version reaffirms new houses "should not be permitted" along national primary or secondary routes and suggests that regional and county roads should also be protected from over-development.
And though the draft issued in March 2004 by Martin Cullen said special areas of conservation should not be an "inflexible constraint" on rural housing, the revised version says local authorities must be satisfied that their integrity "will not be adversely affected".
Some of Mr Cullen's more populist rhetoric has also been altered. His foreword said the guidelines were "based on a presumption that people who have roots in or links to rural areas ... will get planning permission for houses", subject to normal requirements.
Mr Roche's foreword makes no reference to "roots" or "links". It merely talks about the need for planning authorities to "respond positively to the housing needs of rural communities as an integral part of the sustainable development of rural areas".
New qualifying categories are introduced, such as returning emigrants who may wish to retire to their home places and people with health problems who might need more fresh air; apparently there's a "hard case" like that in the Minister's Wicklow constituency.
But occupancy requirements have been maintained, to guard against speculation. Thus, the guidelines specify that a one-off house must be occupied for at least seven years either by the applicant, members of his/her immediate family or their heirs.
There is also some new and relatively unspecific text on the need to promote affordable housing in smaller towns and villages, though how this can be squared with the main purpose of the guidelines - to promote housing in their hinterland - is another matter.
When the original draft was published last year, just days before the Fianna Fáil ardfheis with an eye on the local elections in June, planning authorities and An Bord Pleanála were told to implement them, even in advance of the usual consultation period.
The Taoiseach himself had declared that planning in rural areas was "the biggest issue around Ireland at the moment". The suspicion at the time was that Fianna Fáil intended using this - and the Government's decentralisation programme - to cheer up rural voters.
Mr Cullen complained that the board's refusal rate for one-off houses was too high, at 87 per cent, and said he wanted this reduced to 10 per cent.
However, Mr Roche made it clear that he would not want to interfere with the board's statutory independence.
Official figures show that the draft guidelines have had some impact on An Bord Pleanála's decisions. Of the 570 appeals involving one-off houses, it has granted permission in 21 per cent of these cases (up from 13 per cent in 2002) and refused 79 per cent.
The appeals board itself was among the 105 organisations and individuals who made submissions on the draft guidelines. According to the Minister, most welcomed the broad thrust of the guidelines and many of their suggestions were incorporated.
On rural housing design, the latest version of the guidelines stresses the importance of planners not being "overly prescriptive".
Mr Roche conceded that only a small minority of houses in rural areas - perhaps as low as 15 per cent - are designed by qualified architects; indeed, most are plucked from pattern books like Bungalow Bliss. However, his guidelines will do nothing to change that.