THERE IS a lack of appetite to conduct an independent inquiry into planning corruption outside Dublin, partly because Fine Gael and Labour are in power “in just about every council in the country”, the leader of the Green Party, Eamon Ryan, has said.
Mr Ryan was reacting to a report published on Tuesday by the Department of the Environment which examined complaints of alleged planning irregularities in seven local authorities and found no evidence of wrongdoing.
Speaking on RTÉ radio yesterday, Mr Ryan referred to the Mahon report on Dublin planning.
“I am afraid that is still the case today. What we’re seeing here with this Government is the failure to conduct an independent inquiry into what was happening outside Dublin,” he said.
“For those to believe that the corruption and problems stopped at the Red Cow roundabout [whereas] everywhere else in the rest of the country . . . was ticketyboo as this report seems to be saying is just . . . not credible.”
He said there was a “complete connection” between the department and the councils investigated.