The rural housing guidelines that were originally due to be published prior to Christmas 2022, are still not published and Macra has called on the Government to deliver on this long-awaited promise.

The Rural housing guidelines were delayed until the second quarter of 2023. Macra president Elaine Houlihan said: “The end of quarter two is quickly approaching and there is no sign of the promised rural housing guidelines.”

It has been two decades since the guidelines have been reviewed and revised. Houlihan said: “Ireland’s rural young people are once again leaving in droves because it is so difficult for them to have a future and build a house in their communities.”

Macra has consulted its members on planning and housing development over the past two years.

Macra said: “A message emerged that, guidelines need to be consistent and they must ensure that those who want to live and work in rural Ireland can do so without endless amounts of red tape and hoops to jump through.

“We have members who are siblings that have applied for planning in rural communities beside one another and one would get the planning granted and the other would be refused on little or no valid reasoning. This just shows how inconsistent the current planning guidelines are in our rural communities,” the Macra president said.

Houlihan concluded by stressing the fact that “Macra wants to see these guidelines published before the end of Q2 [second quarter] as promised. Our future depends on the policies that Government puts forward with housing being one of the major issues affecting young people.”