Clare County Council has refused planning permission to only 10 holiday homes from applications for over 300 tax-driven holiday homes since the start of the year.
In figures released by the council, the local authority confirmed that it has granted planning permission for more than 220 holiday homes in towns and villages across Co Clare this year, while developers withdrew applications for 70 holiday homes.
Prior to the end of last year, government tax reliefs for tourist-related developments resulted in Clare County Council receiving planning applications in the space of a few weeks that would normally take a quarter of a century to be lodged.
The council's then head of planning, Ger Dollard, said the applications seeking to take advantage of Government tax reliefs now before the council "represent 25 years of development".
However, figures supplied by the council show that it refused planning permission to just 10 holiday homes out of applications for over 300 holiday homes. The council also granted planning permission for 77 apartments and two hotels.
The permissions are now expected to provide a windfall for the local construction industry as all units have to be complete by July of next year to qualify for the tax breaks.
Green Party councillor Brian Meaney said yesterday: "These developments are tax-driven and unnecessary and have the potential to irrevocably change the Clare landscape, as many of the applications are in sensitive coastline areas."
