Not Local, Not Welcome

Irish Authorities Challenged on Home-Building Rules

The small seacoast town of Carrowdough in County Sligo gives preference to locals in land use. (By Paul Mcerlane -- Bloomberg News)

P.J. McGoldrick can't live on land he owns five miles from his birthplace in County Sligo in the west of Ireland. He isn't local enough.

The former chief executive of Ryanair Holdings in Dublin was denied permission to build a seafront cottage in Carrowdough. Local planners favor farmers from the immediate area when granting permits, thwarting McGoldrick's dream of retiring to the place where he swam as a boy.

"I thought, 'My father's turning in his grave at this,' " said McGoldrick, 67, whose relatives are buried in County Sligo. "We were devastated."

Twenty-three authorities in rural Ireland are pulling in the welcome mat through locals-only laws requiring potential new-home buyers to have jobs in the area or even be fluent in Gaelic, according to the European Commission. Opponents of the rules say they unfairly deny people like McGoldrick the chance to enjoy the fruits of success achieved elsewhere.

The commission, the European Union's executive agency, is examining the restrictions in Ireland to determine whether they breach an E.U. treaty granting citizens of member nations the right to settle anywhere in the region.

"It's unconstitutional in every way," said Jim Connolly, founder of the Irish Rural Dwellers Association, which is campaigning to change the rules. He estimates that about a quarter of all applications to build in rural areas are rejected under the criteria.

"I'm hoping E.U. law will put an end to it," Connolly said.

Seosamh O'Cuaig, a councilor in County Galway on the west coast, is among those who favor the restrictions. Many applicants are city dwellers who want to build second homes. Allowing in more outsiders would clutter the countryside and cause house prices to rise beyond the reach of locals, he said.

"This would open it up to every Tom, Dick and Harry with money," O'Cuaig said. His authority, the Galway County Council, tests the Gaelic skills of prospective new-home buyers in Irish-speaking areas, known as the Gaeltacht, to help protect the language and culture.

Average house prices in Ireland have more than tripled, to more than $427,000, since 1997, fueled by the fastest economic growth in the euro region. In the capital, Dublin, prices have almost quadrupled, to more than $483,000.

The number of holiday homes doubled from 1996 to 2006 and now represents 2.8 percent of the housing stock. Local newspapers have popularized the term "bungalow blitz" in reference to the property boom.

A proliferation of detached houses in rural Ireland would overload power, sewage and road networks and make it more difficult to provide services to residents, according to the government.