Senator vows to stay all night in Seanad over 'homes on wheels' laws

A newly elected Senator has voted to stay in the Seanad all night if it means that proposed planning changes for modular homes could be passed to include caravans and mobile homes.

Speaking today, Aontú Senator Sarah O'Reilly says that the proposed relaxation of planning laws around modular homes is “common sense and much needed”.

However, she expressed serious concerns about those living in mobile homes in similar circumstances and their legal planning status.

Sen O'Reilly said there are people up and down the country who have invested in mobile homes in a bid to put a roof over the heads and who are living in constant fear of being evicted by local authorities.

“I have worked closely with a family in Ballyhaise in Co Cavan who are petrified that they'll be evicted from the mobile home they live in behind their parents' home. They never realised the mobile home needed planning permission as it's on wheels," she said.

Sen O'Reilly was referring to the plight of Eoin McGovern and his partner Maria who hit the headlines late last year as the pre-General election spotlight focussed on housing issues.

Eoin, Marie and their two young children are living in a mobile home at Eoin's mother's property in Ballyhaise.

They were served by the local authority with a notice to remove the mobile home by October 2024 but they are still living there.

READ MORE: Young family have ‘nowhere to go’ and told they must remove caravan

"The current planning rules around cabins and modular units are bizarre and ludicrous," said Sen O'Reilly.

"The fact that modular units of 40 square meters attached to existing structures don't need planning approval, but standalone units do, makes little sense.

“They [the McGoverns] have two little babies, they work hard and all they did was try and fend for themselves. I want to know if the enforcement order served on them will now be lifted. They have gone through enough,” continued Sen O'Reilly.

She said the current planning laws aren't fair.

"There is currently a planning exemption for the construction of accommodation, including modular units, for those seeking international protection. The government could, theoretically, build an accommodation centre for asylum seekers in the field next to this family, for hundreds of people to live, without a single sentence appearing on An Bord Pleanála's website.

"Yet this young couple and their two babies are being threatened, and have the law brought down harshly upon them, for parking a mobile home in their back garden where it is not even visible from the road," lambasted Sen O'Reilly.

While welcoming the proposed planning changes, Aontú believes that a quick timeframe for the change is needed.

"I'm prepared to sit in the Seanad all night to get this change passed through the house if necessary. We need a commitment also from the government that those currently under pressure and under threat of eviction will have a stay put on their eviction until the change is made," concluded Senator O'Reilly.

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