Planners who try to prevent people from building houses in the countryside have been criticised by the Minister of State for Agriculture, Mr Eamon O Cuiv.
He said he would take "serious issue" with planners whose only concept of a village was a "street village". There were also villages which were called townlands by city people, but these villages were as real to the people who lived in them as the street village, he said.
"The people of the west value the land, air and water, and they will not destroy them, but a countryside without people is destroyed," Mr O Cuiv said.
If houses were properly sited, they would not impinge on the landscape and he believed it was possible to develop systems to deal with sewage while still preserving the water table. He believed in putting investment back into depopulated areas to break "the vicious circle" which made people leave because of the lack of infrastructure and services.
Mr O Cuiv made the comments after presenting the annual Connacht Gold John Healy journalism awards in Carrick-on-Shannon.
The winners were Ronan Clarke of RTE's Ear To The Ground programme, Katie Hannon of the Irish Examiner, Liamy MacNally of Mid-West Radio and Willie McHugh of the Mayo News.
Mr O Cuiv was responding to comments by the chairman of Connacht Gold Co-op, Mr Dan Gilmartin, who said it had concerns from its involvement in the National Spatial Strategy consultation process. He said there was a "very clear idea prevalent at national and local government levels that people in rural areas should be herded into villages and towns to suit the notions of planners".
Mr Gilmartin said people could not be denied the right to live in rural areas and that there were "no insurmountable problems" associated with water quality.
There were "too many district electoral divisions throughout Connacht which cannot regenerate themselves" and people should be encouraged to live in these areas.
He also warned about non-delivery of the National Development Plan in parts of the west because of a cost inflation factor of more than 12 per cent and the need for increased spending on health.
He said the west was "particularly vulnerable to non-delivery in a situation where powerful ministers from other areas of the BMW region had direct influence on investment decisions and project manipulation".
The cost overrun would mean some projects and areas would be left behind and the historical position of the west, as last to benefit from Government action, should not be allowed happen again in the "last chance to catch up".