At a meeting of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage Fianna Fáil Spokesperson Mary said the strategy for the Department of Housing, Local Government, Planning and Heritage cannot just be business as usual or a refresh of the previous Government’s strategy.

Mary called for strategy that reflects the shared objectives of the coalition Government and recognises the threat of Covid19, Climate Change and Brexit. 

Mary outlined the following objectives that must be included in the Department’s strategy:

Housing

•Constitutional Referendum Right to Housing

•Provision of Public Housing on Public Lands

•Affordable homes, secure tenures and sustainable communities

Planning

•Must address failure of SHDs

•Achieve more efficient planning decisions and critically better-quality planning decisions to drive sustainable development

Local Government

•Champion Local Government

•Enable Local Authorities to deliver for local communities

•Local Authority members must be recognised as the hardest working public representatives in the country

•Must commit to supporting and resourcing Local Authority members to deliver for their local communities

Water and other natural resources must be protected and sustainably managed. 

Heritage will double the departments workforce and should make a substantial contribution to the Departments delivery over the next four years.

The strategy must be ambitious.  If it is not ambitious its delivery will fall far short of what citizens demand and deserve. 

The draft strategy is due by the end of December 2020.