Eoghan Harris on one-off housing
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Very funny image 😀
The North much like ourselves have asssessed their options in relation to sustainable development and made their decision it appears to have been a good decision at government level to stop the unchecked development of the countryside prior to a regime being introduced that will both protect the environment and provide for those who wish to remain in rural communities as opposed to the free for all where urban economic migrants can take their part of the planning free for all that exists in many Southern counties.
I find the article in news section below highly encouraging following on from the Cloughjordan Eco-Village viable alternatives appear to be emerging.
Most of all, it’s good design for Tipperary town
An architectural competition for Tipperary town resulted in three winning designs. Trouble is, they’re still on paper. Emma Cullinan reports
THERE’S a housing scheme in Tipperary town which is positively utopian. The houses have a traditional appearance, with white walls and pitched roofs, but they have open-plan interiors to suit modern life. Like farm buildings of old, they are based around courtyards, allowing for privacy and protection, yet the buildings are grouped with neighbouring properties along fingers of greenery, to encourage residential relations.
These small neighbourhoods sit within a wider green area that is shared by the complete housing scheme. The housing scheme has a community centre and cr
His practice did a development plan for Tipperary town in the early 1980s and found that in the previous 25 years, only six or seven private houses had been built in the town compared with 240 local authority houses: all of the private housing was over a mile outside the town.
“We have got to give people an incentive – through good housing – to move back into towns,” he says, adding that most people would prefer to live in a community.
In his booklet, Living Over the Shop – Relief From The Long Commute, launched yesterday, he argues that in Ireland there is “an increasing social divide between the town and the surrounding area, with higher income households tending to be located in the surrounds of the towns and lower income households in the town”.
I think the bit above from the article is worth repeating – so many of Ireland’s towns are turning into minaturised versions of American doughnut cities. Those that could afford it left for their ‘rural’ idyll while the lower rungs of society were left behind. If you compare the likes of Sligo and Enniskillen you can even see a contrast in the extent of this phenomenon across the border.
The former has gone beyond urban sprawl with the surrounding countryside now filled with McMansions and villas leaving large parts of the town dead and even derelict. Development around Enniskillen has been much more tightly controlled with the slow release of land for expanding suburbs and comparatively few one-offs. This has still resulted in urban sprawl but unlike Sligo the town in much more compact and this shows in every way. There’s far more new development in the town, there’s fewer endless stretches of suburbanised road to maintain and so the public space within the town has been afforded much more attention. All in all Enniskillen is compact, well kept and thriving: Sligo seems to have been let go terribly for seemingly no other reason than enabling the socially mobile to bugger off to the nearest hilltop. 🙁
Ireland in general, but the west of the Republic in particular, seems to have become so anti town. As for villages, they’re a long lost cause in the likes of Donegal were so many are now largely derelict.
Agreed
No flight from land, says Coughlan
07 June 2006 14:06
The Minister for Agriculture has said that despite concerns about the numbers leaving farming, there is no evidence of the so-called flight from the land.Mary Coughlan said many farmers see a good future in the business and there had been a very significant increase in investment in farm buildings.
The minister outlined her department’s annual review earlier.
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She said 2005 saw the introduction of the single farm payment with direct payments to farmers amounting to €2.2bn – the highest level ever.
Agricultural food exports also reaped a record level, they were worth €7.5bn. Diary exports were up 8% and beef exports were up 6%. The minister again highlighted the importance of agriculture to rural development and the national economy.
Ms Coughlan said the sale of land remains at historically low levels.
So it would appear that IRDA et al have been telling us all porkies for the last few years.
I disagree that the sale of land is historically low levels but conclude that the sale of agricultural land for agricultural use is at historically low levels as farmers are obstructed from increasing their holdings by competition from urban based bidders who can bid 10 to 50 times as much pro rata.
@RTE.com wrote:
Sprawl will stretch infrastructure – report
November 24, 2006 07:17
Dublin’s infrastructure will not be able to cope if its housing sprawl continues, according to a report published today by the European Environmental Agency. It predicts that residential housing will have more than doubled in the greater Dublin area by 2025.The agency says Dublin is an illustration of a Europe-wide problem of urban sprawl. Author Ronan U’ale says Dublin’s outward expansion is unsustainable in terms of resources, services and quality of life.
The report states that the market has been allowed to drive homebuyers further and further out of the city It adds that there are few constraints on the conversion of agricultural land to low density housing.
The report states that the ideal for Irish home buyers is a single family house in open countryside close to an urban area. It recommends instead a more compact capital and the development of a polycentric relationship with Dundalk, Newry and Drogheda. It predicts most future growth will be to the north-west of the capital, along the line of the Dublin- Belfast corridor.
In most countries irrational consumer behaviour is regulated against in Ireland it is pandered to and this will cost bigtime in the not so distant future if objective independent advice is not heeded.
“There is nothing worse than smart ass city slickers who pride themselves in taking a swipe at people from outside the Pale… City slickers often adopt a superior attitude towards those of us from outside the metropolitan 50 kilometres per hour speed limit. It is even more nauseating when the slickers meet on-line and hide behind the skirts of discussion fora to launch verbal scuds on people outside the capital. Check out the discussion board of archiseek.com Irish website relating to the Irish Rural Dwellers’ Association. The pages are graced with the repulsive scripts that belong to a colonial past, long dead but obviously, still hankered after by a few withered brains masquerading as architectural intellects.”
http://buckplanning.blogspot.com/2006/11/rural-planning-irish-rural-dwellers.html
Liamy McNally is a journalist with Mid-West Radio based in Ballyhaunis.
“Ah sure it is a great country! It could only happen here. The tail wags the dog and gets away with it!”
If only.
He is right there are a few withered brains on Archiseek; well at least today after what I hope was a really good last night.
Have a great 2007 all I hope you will all join in promoting an end to this lobby groups temporary advantage in planning policy over the next year.
Up to 200 homes still without power
01 January 2007 18:40
Up to 200 homes in Co Donegal are still without electricity following strong winds last night.The ESB said it hoped to restore power to as many homes as possible by tonight.
More than 24,000 homes across the country were left without power for much of New Year’s Eve.
I wonder how much the costs directly attributable to One Off Houses were this weekend?
Dublin sprawl could harm health, study warns
Tuesday, 13 February 2007 11:27
Planning experts have warned that Dublin’s massive suburban sprawl could lead to health problems, pollution and increased rates of social isolation.The Urban Forum, which is made up of five planning groups, is calling for a review of the National Spatial Strategy, and the creation of a new urban centre along the west coast.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio’s Morning Ireland, Aidan ffrench of the Irish Landscape Institute, which is on the forum, says Dublin is growing too rapidly.The forum is also demanding increased staffing of planning bodies and a greater emphasis on high-speed rail.
It has warned that Dublin is expanding so quickly it will soon occupy the same surface area as Los Angeles, but with less than a quarter of its population.
As a consequence, the average car in Ireland travels 70% more each year than France, 50% more than Britain – and even 30% more than the USA.
The forum says there is substantial evidence to suggest this will lead obesity, cardiovascular disease, asthma and increased rates of social isolation.
The forum is made up of: Engineers Ireland; the Irish Landscape Institute; the Irish Planning Institute; the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland and the Society of Chartered Surveyors.
Interesting coalition lending weight to something that has been held here for a long time.
Ahern announces appointed Senators
Friday, 3 August 2007 13:16
The Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, has announced his list of 11 appointed Senators.As expected four of the new Seanad seats have gone to members of the Green Party and the Progressive Democrats.
* Dan Boyle, former Green Party TD, Cork South Central
* Martin Brady, former Fianna Fáil TD, Dublin North East
* Ivor Callely, former Fianna Fáil TD and Minister of State, Dublin North Central
* Ciaran Cannon, PD Councillor, Galway
* Maria Corrigan, Fianna Fáil Councillor, Dún Laoghaire Rathdown
* Deirdre de Burca, Green Party Councillor, Wicklow
* John Ellis, former Fianna Fáil TD, Roscommon-South Leitrim
* Eoghan Harris, Sunday Independent columnist and former RTÉ producer
* Lisa McDonald, Fianna Fáil Councillor, Wexford
* Brian Ó Domhnaill, Fianna Fáil Councillor, Donegal
* Fiona O’Malley, former PD TD, Dún Laoghaire
* Senator Donie Cassidy – Leader of Seanad Éireann.
Good choice for a non political appointment and his views on bungalows are cool too!
Harris will hardly be able to take his tongue out of an Taoiseachs hole for long enough to make a difference…..
You must be talking about another Eoghan Harris the one appointed today is independent outspoken and has a unique ability not to stick to the script as the stickies found out many moons ago.
But it’s the same Harris who went on the Late Late and praised Bertie to the high heavens one week before the election. His appointment is nothing more than a payout for that episode where he may as well have been wearing a Vote Bertie t-shirt and shaking Fianna Fail pompoms. It really brings the role of the media into disrepute. It damages Irish democracy and shows that an unstable, flip flopping ignorant arrogant blustering chameleion hack of the worst kind can rise to become a legislator.
And 10 minutes surround by FF gombeenmen like Ivor Callely in the Seanad and his views on one-off housing are liable to shift in any case.
Harris is passionate on any topic he dives into; I read his editorial piece in the Sindo before the election and he called it simply the purpose of an election is to concentrate on the issues that matter such as health, education, planning etc and not on a he said she said relating to events that happened many years ago.
Whilst in the Seannad he will have a chance to prove if he is genuinely independent such as Wilson or Fergal Quinn or if he becomes an ind ff.
Time will judge more clearly than the polemical sentiments above
yes but on the Late Late he ignored all the issues and led a cheerleading campaign for Bertie, against the media. He may be passionate but he’s a political chameleon who’s a danger to democracy, as the line between Fianna Fail and the Sindo has been thoroughly blurred by his rants. If he truly cared about the issues you mentioned he wouldn’t touch Bertie with a bargepole. His support for Bertie was nothing more than a dig at his fellow journalists who would honestly like to know why it was ok to use your elected position to enrich yourself.
He obviously doesn’t care that much about planning issues either, if he’s willing to support FF. And i disagree that the Seanad will prove or disprove his independence. He proved himself an apologist for backward governance, gombeenism and corruption on RTE that night. He’s as independent as Flynn and Healy Rae.
I fail to see how Harris’ appointment will benefit the one-off housing debate as you seem to be suggesting. He’s probably fogotten all about that issue by now, as it seems to have slipped off the “flavour of the month” chart. Perhaps if he’d championed the Greens in May i’d feel different.
He stuck to the point that the campaign is about issues and not personality.
I don’t feel that the comparison to Flynn or Healy Rae is particularly mature or contributes in anyway to this discussion.
He blindly defended Ahern against all principles of ethical governance. I just saw the clip on the news. His words were:
“for the first time, and the last time, I am voting Fianna Fail”
This shows he has no political ideology or any conviction whatsoever. Is he gonna revert to FG or SF next time? Who knows. He was doing so to support Bertie’s personality against his colleagues in the media. He failed utterly to couch this support in terms of any of the issues whatsoever other than his own rampant contrariness.
My comparison to the other “independents” is fairly apt imo. The term Indepnedent is used by the two sides to put a false, dishonest cordon sanitaire between them. If Harris can claim independence after that performance, and what’s more to get away with it, is a sad indictment on Irish political culture.
Anyway, if you wish to respond again PVC, i’ll read it, but I think we should put this to bed here on archiseek, and return to matters architecture and planning. I’m sure Sue is about to post some nonsense over on that Tara thread again!
see you there
Take it outside lads: http://www.politics.ie
😉
The point that a new senator with outspoken views on one off housing has entered seanad eireann is in no way a political point.
The fact that some posters chose to ignore his stated views on this issue and rant on about his views on a completely irrelevant topic is disapointing but far from suprising!
These individuals would be better served lobbying the man than blogging!
Ivor Callely faces FF parliamentary party expulsion
Friday, 4 June 2010 10:19
Senator Ivor Callely faces expulsion from the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party after an investigation was launched into his expense claims.http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0604/callelyi.html
The party’s Chief Whip, John Curran, is to propose a motion to the next meeting of the parliamentary party that the whip be removed from Senator Callely, without prejudice, pending the completion of the investigation.
This controversy began on Sunday, with the revelation that the Dublin-based Senator had been claiming travel and subsistence expenses to Leinster House from his other residence in Co Cork.
Yesterday afternoon, after receiving a written statement from the Senator, the Committee on Members’ Interests in the Seanad confirmed there was sufficient evidence to sustain a complaint under the Ethics in Public Office Act.The Committee is to receive legal advice, as well as more information about the expenses rules, before meeting again the week after next to get the inquiry under way.
Yesterday night, Fianna Fáil issued a statement noting the Committee’s decision and repeating that the matter is being taken seriously by the party and that Senator Callely must deal with it ‘comprehensively and transparently’.
A Fianna Fáil spokesman said ‘strenuous efforts’ had been made to contact Senator Callely to inform him of the decision but without success.
Separately, it has emerged that a second senator has claimed travel and accommodation expenses from an address outside of that listed on the Fianna Fáil website.
Senator Larry Butler, whose official address is in Foxrock, Co Dublin, said that since he was elected to the Seanad in 2007 he has lived in Graiguenamanagh in Co Kilkenny.
Another reason to ban them….
Rural need my arse…..
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