Independent TD Mattie McGrath has called on all candidates in the general election to give a commitment that they would support a moratorium on demolishing family homes with retention planning issues for the duration of the housing crisis.
Deputy McGrath says a statutory instrument can be issued by the Housing Minister of the next government instructing county councils not to take enforcement proceedings against a house built without permission when to do so would cause homelessness.
He said that it was “unconscionable” that a “person’s home would be razed to the ground” when no other housing was available, and young people were leaving the county “in their droves” because of the housing shortage and cost of living crisis.
The Tipperary deputy said that case of Brendan McDonagh, who was told to pack a bag for prison before appearing at the High Court over planning issues around a home he had build for his family, brought further attention to an issue he had been highlighting “right throughout the housing crisis”.
“There are candidates going door to door at the minute, promising voters the sun, moon and stars to tackle the housing crisis, but in my view one real and tangible thing they can do is to give a commitment that these threats of jail, and attempts to demolish homes which people had often built out of desperation, will stop,” he said.
He said that he had previously called on the government to use a statutory instrument to give an amnesty to people like the McDonagh family and others who are relying on cabins and mobile homes – installed without planning permission – so that they would have somewhere to live in the midst of the housing crisis.
Deputy McGrath also said that candidates in Election 2024 should support an amendment to the planning act to allow people to build log cabins on their own land without planning permission saying “even a 5 or 10 year moratorium would help alleviate the current housing situation”.
He said the amnesty would give huge relief to those relying on cabins and mobile homes – often installed without planning permission – because they were unable to find housing within the reach of average family, adding that people were being priced out of market “often by vulture funds”.
McGrath has called on his amnesty to be given for a period of up to ten years saying that there are many such people living in Ireland who are waiting to be “pounced on” by the local authorities.
He pointed to the case of 66-year old Seán Meehan who lives in Cahir, in Co Tipperary, saying Mr Meehan had put a mobile home on his own land when he was faced with homelessness and was being brought before the courts by Tipperary County Council who have ordered him to remove his mobile home, even though the Council cannot provide him with alternative accommodation.
Deputy McGrath said that even though Mr Meehan was he was born and raised in the area the council says it is “not satisfied” that he “has demonstrated a genuine social need to reside in the locality”.
He said that at least 12 other people in his constituency were or had been in similar situations.
Independent Ireland candidate for Dublin Mid-West, Cllr Linda de Courcy, who had accompanied the McDonagh family to the court and brought their case to the local council, said that South Dublin County Council had been “relentless in pursuing a man for building a log cabin on his own land while taller and taller apartment blocks are being built just a few minutes away”.
Supporting the call for a moratorium on demolishing homes during the crisis, she said that Brendan McDonagh was being given a choice of either going to jail or demolishing the family home, leaving the entire family, including their two children, homeless.
The McDonagh family
“Can we not just get our humanity back,” she said. “This is not just a structure, it is a family home and the state is failing families with extortionate rental prices and ever-rising house prices.”
Cllr de Courcy previously said: “It feels so petty, so adversarial, the authorities pitting themselves against ordinary people. The antagonism they show towards the individual or the family who just wants to provide children with a home and be part of the community. The court system is so expensive and exhausting too, people just give up.”
She has put a motion before the Council in September asking them to desist from threatening the family with jail. “Where is our compassion for the homeless when we’re actually faced with a case where the state is threatening eviction,” she asked.
Cllr Linda de Courcy
“It’s so callous to threaten a father in jail just for proving a home for his family. He doesn’t want money or help from the government: he is willing to make any alteration asked, why can’t they come to an agreement?”
The McDonaghs have been told they did not display a social or economic need to live in the area, although four generations of their family have lived at Glenaraneen, and where Brendan built their cabin home is known as McDonagh’s Lane.
Mattie McGrath said that planning guidelines drawn up by the government – focused on what prioritising sustainable development – seemed designed to force everyone to live in towns and urban areas.
He said the guidelines drastically reduced the opportunity for rural planning permissions to build individual homes, pushing almost all new homes into towns, cities, and their surrounding areas.
