I raise with the Minister the issue of planning permission and planning guidelines for log cabins, modular homes and mobile homes. We are all well aware of the housing crisis, which the Minister has been addressing, and we are all talking about it. There is a concerning situation in the case of people who have modular homes or a mobile home. I have previously asked for a ten-year moratorium during this crisis. There is strong enforcement by local authorities of planning policy against log cabins and temporary dwellings. I am aware of at least a dozen cases in south Tipperary where people are being turfed out, brought to court and prosecuted for putting up mobile homes or extended log cabins on their own site. I am not talking about reckless planning. These homes are carefully constructed. These modular buildings are now very safe and comfortable. Will the Minister amend the guidelines? It is his bailiwick. The Government could easily issue guidelines on rural planning. We are waiting for them as they have not been changed in 20 years. We are now told that the Green Party is insisting that will not happen. While the outdated guidelines for rural planning remain the same, a house will not be built in rural Ireland for a farmer's son or daughter or for anybody else either. That is a shocking scenario that the tail is wagging the dog to that extent. I call on the Minister to publish the new statutory rural planning guidelines and to include log cabins within them. That could be done with the simple stroke of a pen. I also call on him to sign an emergency ministerial order, a statutory instrument, to relax the planning laws for log cabins and to accept them as a viable solution to the housing crisis.

I am aware of a gentleman, Sean Meehan, who is 66 years of age. He has given me permission to use his name here. Following a marriage separation, he bought 5 acres of land and built a log cabin on it. Tipperary County Council has brought him to court four times. He was told by the judge ten days before Christmas to have his bag packed the next time as he has been sentenced to four months in prison if he does not remove the log cabin. He has nowhere to go. Tipperary County Council does not have anything to give him and it has not approved his application for housing. He is in a desperate situation. Let us just imagine that. He is an Irish citizen. All his people are buried within a mile of him up the road. He was born and reared in the townland of Loughkent and Woodenstown. He has a comfortable house there on his own site, with his dog and cats. Now, he is facing prison or sleeping under the Main Guard in Clonmel when he comes out of prison. That is a bonkers situation.

I am not asking for planning laws to be recklessly abandoned but the Minister could at least introduce a moratorium. He will not publish the long-promised planning guidelines, which was a commitment in the Government manifesto. The Green Party will not allow it to do so. This man and many more like him – there are 12 others – are being prosecuted by the council. The council has enough to do to find homes for people. We should support people where they have the will and the way in the sense of having a few pounds together to do this. I have been in many log cabins. They are lovely comfortable homes. They are connected to their own sewerage and water systems. They are not interfering aesthetically with the scenery or anything else, yet they are being prosecuted. Can we believe it in this day and age? They are being prosecuted. As Deputy McNamara said, the Government cannot prosecute people arriving here illegally. This is a shameful treatment of Irish citizens, in this case, Sean Meehan. The Minister sits idly by although he could change the guidelines at the stroke of a pen and introduce a statutory instrument so as to ensure that people who try to house themselves are not made into criminals.

I believe in rural housing. Last year, more than 5,000 one-off homes were built in rural areas, so people do get planning permission for rural homes. We also believe in ensuring that our towns and villages are rejuvenated. That is why we have had more than 7,000 applications for the vacancy grant, whereby people can get €70,000 to bring vacant and derelict homes back into use.

Specifically in regard to demountable properties or log cabins, people can seek planning permission for those types of dwellings as well.

The guidelines do not allow them.

The Deputy should let me answer the question.

Please let the Minister respond.

I have two and a half minutes left to respond. If the Deputy keeps quiet, I will try to answer his question, specifically about Tipperary. People can apply for planning permission for that type of dwelling. That is allowed.

They never get it.

Deputy McGrath is not looking for a blanket moratorium. We must have a planning system and planning rules in place. A number of cases have been brought to the Department's attention specifically in regard to Tipperary. Tipperary County Council has been asked to look at existing dwellings that are in place and to review the situation there. A review is being carried out in that regard to see if there are ways that we can ensure there is some type of standard for these types of properties. Every back garden in the country cannot have a log cabin. We cannot just set aside planning law for that. I am aware that enforcement orders have been issued by local authorities to people who have been living in these dwellings for many years. In many instances, they have been issued because complaints have been received by the planning authority from other residents in the area. I assure the Deputy that Tipperary County Council has not gone out looking for these dwellings. The enforcement action has been taken on the basis of complaints received. I wrote recently to the chief executive of Tipperary County Council when some of these cases were brought to my attention. I have asked him and his team to review the situation.

The rural planning guidelines are at a very advanced stage of finality. The Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, is dealing with that matter. I expect the guidelines to be published very soon. They are areas that can be looked at as part of that process. It is important to note that many of the enforcement orders that have been taken have been on the basis of complaints received by planning authorities from other residents in those areas. It is not the case that the local authority has sought to issue these orders with no complaints having been received at all.

From Whitelands Cross right up to Glenagat Cross where Dan Breen was married in a cow house, as his wedding took place in troubled times, every resident on the road signed a petition supporting Sean Meehan to be allowed to live in his home and on his site. The Minister is totally wrong there.

Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil promised at the last election that the rural planning guidelines would be changed but then they did a grubby deal with the Green Party and that promise went out the window. This political promise on changing the guidelines has been broken.

The Minister is also wrong in saying that planning can be obtained for these dwellings. We have umpteen cases where they cannot and will not be because the guidelines do not allow the planners to proceed. The Minister will not publish the new guidelines and although the planners might want to allow these dwellings, they cannot do so under the current guidelines. He said the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, is going to introduce them. When will that be? Will it be after the Green Party is out of government and long gone? The Government does not have the will to change. Imagine bringing a 66-year old man to court four times. He is also faced with spending four months in prison if he does not remove the log cabin. If he does not remove it, the council will hire someone to remove it and he will have to pay for it. Let us just think about that. At this time, we see people trying to sleep in tents all over the country in towns and everywhere else.

I thank the Deputy.

This man has housed himself. I am dealing with 12 more people like him who have housed themselves. They are not looking for anything off the council. They just want to be left alone. The Minister should do his job as part of the Government but he is not doing it.

I cannot respond to specific cases. As Minister with responsibility for planning, I will not do that.

There are no objections.

I am not referring specifically to that case. I have already answered on instances that have been raised specifically in Tipperary. I and my officials have engaged with Tipperary County Council. The rural planning guidelines will be published shortly. A lot of work has been undertaken in that regard. The guidelines have not been updated since 2011. The facts are borne out as well that in the last full year for which we have the figures, 2022, some 5,000 rural homes were built and over 5,000 permissions were granted. It is simply not true to say that planning permission is not granted in rural areas. It is not borne out by the facts.