The Government’s proposal to allow more people to build one off homes on their own land will “draw the vitality out of towns and villages”, a planning expert has predicted. 

Over the weekend, Housing Minister James Browne promised to “liberalise” the existing rules, noting many people in rural Ireland find it “impossible” to live in the place that they grew up in. 

He predicted that such a change would mean a “significant amount of homes” are built outside of towns and cities. 

 On Newstalk Breakfast, Brendan O’Sullivan, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Planning at UCC, described the issue as a “tricky one to handle”. 

“In principle, it is the status quo,” he explained. 

“But when people experience planning application delays and things like that, it seems as if the planning system is against permitting houses for people to build on their family land. 

“In reality, it's not the case. Planning and rural authorities around the country do their best to facilitate rural landowners to build houses on their farms for themselves and their children if suitable sites are available.”

Work beginning on a new site in County Donegal. Picture by: Piere Bonbon / Alamy Stock Photo.

Despite this, Mr O’Sullivan conceded that many people in rural Ireland struggle to get planning permission. 

“Usually the difficulties manifest themselves when the site chosen has particular physical problems, where there are issues with water supply or drainage or road safety or some practical issues or ecology,” he added. 

“It's those kinds of technical messy delays which give the impression that people are not getting planning permission to build on their own farm.”

Seafront houses below slopes of Mount Eagle in County Kerry. Picture by: Alamy.com.

Overall, Mr O’Sullivan argued that one off housing makes rural Ireland “very scattered and quite chaotic", as well as "very, very difficult to service”. 

“The decline of the rural town and the rural village, in certain parts of the country, is a really serious issue,” he said. 

“And it's not going to be helped by allowing new homes to be scattered all over the countryside in unserviced locations and actually draw the vitality out of towns and villages - which is where the focus should be.”

Last year, the Government built 36,284 new homes in Ireland - higher than the 30,330 built in 2024 and the 32,695 completed in 2023.

Main image: Housing on the Dingle Peninsula. Picture by: Alamy.com.