The Government rejected a Green Party Private Member's Bill, which the party claimed would aid local environmental protection and development.
The Green Party leader, Mr Trevor Sargent, said that the Sustainable Communities Bill was a reminder to everybody, especially local authorities and communities, that Ireland could not become sustainable unless everybody was purposely involved in devising and implementing local sustainability strategies.
"Features of sustainable community strategy, for example, would include the provision of local services and amenities, such as green spaces and children's parks; the procurement and sourcing of goods which are either produced or grown locally; the growth and marketing of organic forms of food production and local food economies; increasing the number of locally generated jobs to reduce commuting."
Mr Sargent said the Bill also provided for indicators to evaluate the progress being made to implement parts of a sustainable community strategy.
"Indicators are intended to answer a simple question: how might we know objectively whether matters are getting better or worse?"
The Minister of State for the Environment, Mr Pat "The Cope" Gallagher, claimed the Bill was too bureaucratic and unnecessary, and provided no added value to the sustainable development agenda at any level.
