Rural Resettlement Ireland's plans of building houses for people seeking to resettle from the city have been blocked by Clare County Council. This is due to the council's general ban on "outsiders" building in the open countryside in certain areas of Clare.
Earlier this year, RRI began an ambitious programme of seeking to build 19 houses at nine rural locations in Clare. The plans for Clare are part of an overall programme seeking to build houses in Offaly, Leitrim, Mayo and Limerick.
Since its establishment as a voluntary organisation in 1990, RRI, based in west Clare, has assisted almost 500 families to leave urban areas and resettle permanently in rural Ireland.
However, in the first decision made on the nine applications lodged, Clare County Council has refused planning permission for two houses at Knock, near Killimer in west Clare, due to the council's "non-local" rule.
The council stated that no local housing need existed in the area designated "visually vulnerable".
It argued that the proposal was contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area.
In an angry response yesterday, the executive chairman of RRI, Mr Jim Connolly, described the reason for refusal as "a most reprehensible and cynical reason when all authorities in Clare agree that depopulation is by far the greatest problem facing these areas".
He added: "The facts are that there is no local need because there are no people. There is a desperate need for people. These rural communities are dying and this policy is the final death knell for these areas."
Mr Connolly claimed that the area where the council refused planning for the two homes has suffered depopulation of 60 per cent and upwards since 1926.
However, a handwritten note by a senior planner in relation to the application states that at the pre-planning stage, RRI was "advised that existing villages, towns and other settlements of Clare should be considered as the future location of RRI housing. Advice not heeded".
Mr Connolly said RRI would be appealing the decision to An Bord Pleanála and has already written to members of Clare County Council to express his anger at the decision.
In the council's decision, RRI was also refused planning due to the proposal's possibly giving rise to undesirable "ribbon" development along a public road and to the creation of demands for the uneconomic extension of public services to the area.
