Native Irish speakers hoping to build homes in a Galway Gaeltacht point to inconsistencies in the application of the planning act.
Dee Ó Mórdha is a native Irish speaker from Cois Fharraige, a Gaeltacht area in County Galway. Currently working as a labourer in London, he hopes to settle with his wife and two young children in Cois Fharraige. He cannot get planning permission to build on an area of bog in Cois Fharraige because the house would spoil the beauty of the landscape.
He is aware that planning applications being made by outsiders are being granted. Dee Ó Mórdha perceives this as an attempt by Galway County Council to drive out native speakers. The implicit message is that anyone can build,
As long as you had the money behind you.
Dee Ó Mórdha's wife Mary, originally from Tipperary, is not a native speaker. For the past year, she and the couple’s children have been living in a caravan in Cois Fharraige while her husband works in England. If they do not get planning permission to build a home, she is adamant they will return to England,
We’ll be looked after over there, better than here.
The Ó Mórdha family would ordinarily be given a council house, but these are not available in the Galway Gaeltacht due to a lack of demand. The tradition in this area is house building.
For native Irish speakers, there is about £11,000 in grants for building if they can get permission.
Lorcan Ó Chualáin has a 140 year-old house in Cois Fharraige. Unable to extend, he hopes to build a new house on his land. Galway County Council has refused planning permission for this new build by the sea, as it would ruin the scenery.
Lorcan Ó Chualáin has been give the option to build on an alternative area that he says is completely unsuitable. To add insult to injury, a new house has been built on a site close to where his original planning application was refused. The planning application for this house was made a year after Lorcan Ó Chualáin’s, and it was approved in four months.
Dee Ó Mórdha and Lorcan Ó Chualáin see inconsistencies in the application of the planning act. Approval is being granted for buildings that appear to be in direct conflict with the planning act. The same rules do not apply for all people. They believe that development is being geared towards rich outsiders at their expense.
Galway County Council has channelled development into the Gaeltacht villages of Barna and An Spidéal, which has increased the price of land in the surrounding villages. In turn, this has impacted the native speaker who wants to live in or return to the Galway Gaeltacht.
This episode of '7 Days' was broadcast on 20 October 1970. The reporter is Bill O'Herlihy.