Mattie McGrath on High Street regeneration and home rights
Mattie McGrath spoke on 6 Apr 2022 about regenerating High Streets, reopening shops, planning delays and objections to compulsory takeovers of private homes. He opposed seizing properties without a referendum and urged ministers to address planning backlogs and delays at Penala.
Regenerating High Streets
McGrath argued for incentives to re-open shops and return properties to living use, saying that getting people to live above or in shops brings towns back to life. He referenced Tipperary Town and said every town and village is suffering from a lack of regeneration.
Opposition to compulsory takeovers of homes
He warned against a "knee-jerk reaction" to take over people's homes, stressing property rights and the need for a referendum rather than bypassing constitutional safeguards. He said people work hard to build and buy houses and cautioned against measures that would seize private homes.
Planning blockages and Penala delays
McGrath called for action to cut planning blockages and singled out Penala, telling the minister that Penala has no statutory requirement to give an initial assessment date or to notify applicants when decisions are delayed. He said he has multiple local cases waiting and described a backlog that needs resolving.
Housing supply and finance barriers
He urged allowing people to build houses in the country where they have a site and funding, but noted banks are not helping and that many applicants face obstacles. He called for practical steps to enable people to build and for an honest, meaningful debate on housing.
Tone and closing remarks
Throughout the speech McGrath criticised what he called "hot air" in the debate and appealed for measured, achievable reforms. He closed with an emphatic Gaelic refrain, reflecting his passionate defence of local housing and High Street regeneration.
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I do want to thank the region of independence for being informed. It's very timely and probably long overdue debate. We're talking about different incentives to take over shops and return shops to High Street, Tipperary Town was mentioned earlier. Every town and village is suffering from a lack of regeneration. And we need to get two things. If you get a shop open and get people living in it that's closed for years, you get a living town back and you bring football to the shops that are trying to survive. there. Look, when I hear people on the left here saying this rule and that rule and write to homes, of course we write to homes, but we cannot seize people's property. I mean, we'll be complaining about what goes on in Russia and different places, but we must make hay slowly here. Do the things that we can do, certainly stop the blockages and planning. And a huge issue at the moment is that poor Penala, Minister, you must address this, they have no statutory requirements to give you a date at first when a case might be assessed. But then once it goes in past that date, they have no statutory obligation to tell you when they're going to make a decision. I have a number of cases in my county that are waiting and waiting for Penala. Who's backlogged there? So we must work on this together here. But we must stop this knee-jerk reaction that people think that they can take over someone's home and decide that because it's a constitution right or whatever, and we can bypass and not have a referendum on this. People work very hard to build their houses and buy their houses and achieve their houses. Yes, we need more houses built, but it's the same people are objecting to a house that's been built in as well. So they want jam on both sides of their bread. We must have a meaningful and worthwhile debate here and cut out the blockages, certainly, and allow people to build houses in the country that have the way of it all, have the site, and are able to get a loan or are able to get funding or have their own funds or whatever. And because the banks aren't helping, but there's a lot of blockages here, but there's a lot of hot air being spoken here as well. Go ra-ma-ha-gut. Go ra-ma-ha-gut. Go ra-ma-gas. You
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