The Minister for the Environment, Mr Cullen, has been urged to use his powers to rescind the controversial local area plan for Dunleer, Co Louth, on the grounds of excessive land rezoning.
Mr Trevor Sargent TD, leader of the Green Party, said the plan adopted by Louth County Council on Monday would "inflate the village's population from 1,000 to 4,000" and this would be "a travesty" for sustainable development.
"I put it to the majority on Louth County Council who voted to increase the population of the village by 400 per cent: What future life can the commuters who will incur huge debts to buy new houses on this newly rezoned land expect?"
If the National Spatial Strategy was to have any meaning, the Minister would have to use his powers to intervene.
Otherwise, he said, the public would see that the common good suffered whenever it was in conflict with the interests of Fianna Fáil.
This was a reference to the council's decision to rezone a tract of land on the outskirts of Dunleer owned by Mr Donal Kinsella, chairman of the Fianna Fáil Cumann in south Louth, for a "factory retail outlet village", contrary to planning advice.
Although there is no provision for such a facility in the county council's retail strategy for Louth, it has been estimated that the rezoning vote could have the effect of boosting the value of Mr Kinsella's holding from €470,000 to €9 million. Mr Kinsella could not be reached for comment yesterday evening.
More contentious was the rezoning of some 20 acres of land, owned by Katsar-Sentosa Properties Ltd, for residential development. This decision was adopted by eight votes to seven, with all but one of the Fianna Fáil councillors voting in favour.
The sole Fianna Fáil dissenter, Cllr Thomas Clare, the only member of the council living in Dunleer, walked out "in disgust" after a number of his party colleagues declined to say why they had changed their minds on the rezoning vote. Less than two months ago, the county council decided by 16 votes to five to revert to the original local area plan for Dunleer, drawn up by Dublin architects and urban designers, Murray O Laoire, in consultation with the local community. The draft was publicly exhibited, generating a total of 67 submissions. More than 80 per cent favoured adoption of the Murray O Laoire plan, with some suggesting minor modifications that did not relate to zoning.
But four of the five mid-Louth councillors, led by Mr Tommy Reilly (FF), a former council chairman, had commissioned their own plan for Dunleer, under which large areas were to be rezoned, including Katsar-Sentosa's land. The council had also been warned by solicitors acting for the company, which is controlled by Mr Aidan Kinsella, that they would take legal proceedings to protect its interests in the event that the Murray O Laoire plan was adopted.
