However, Leitrim councillor, Justin Warnock has welcomed the move.
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The topic was raised by Cllr Warnock a number of years ago during a meeting of Manorhamilton Municipal District, where he called on the Minister for Housing to implement a five-year planning derogation for mobile homes which would allow these homes to be connected to the septic tank and services of the existing family residence.
Speaking to the Leitrim Observer, he said: "I think that this would be good for rural Ireland and Leitrim. People don't want to be paying landlords big money for rent if there is another opportunity and it'll give people their independence without having to pay extortionate rents."
He added: "There are people living in caravans as it is and mobile homes. Modular housing is a better structure, a permanent structure and it has all the proper facilities."
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He said he knows of people who have put a mobile home at the back of their parents' house because they cannot afford "the rent or get a mortgage for a house. This will ease things for a lot of people. There are no big families these days and most people's septic tanks don't cater for ten or 12 people anymore. These people maybe have one or two children and that won't overload the septic tank."
He said the biggest issue that young people are facing at the moment is "forking out anything between €1000 and €1,500 for rent and the modular home could allow parents to downsize and move into them and the son or daughter could move into the house."
Referring to Mr Sheehan's comments that likened modular homes to “beds in sheds", Cllr Warnock said: "We need to take a look at the bigger picture in the world. We have a lot of people living in tents because they are displaces and we're displacing our own because they can't afford the rent. It's a great opportunity, if you were getting on in years, to have a son or daughter come back and live beside. That family unit has been broken down over the last generation; there used to be different generations of the one family living in close proximity."
