Irish
Independent
08 January 2004
Cullen link in planning
'should be monitored'
ENVIRONMENT Minister Martin Cullen has been asked
to state publicly if
representations from interested parties had been made to
him in planning cases where he ignored advice from
officials.
Between
June 2002 and December of last year, Mr Cullen's officials recommended 28 times
that appeals be lodged against planning applications. Mr Cullen agreed to 19 of
the appeals going forward, and rejected nine, despite advice to the
contrary.
Fine
Gael's environment spokesman Bernard Allen yesterday demanded to know if
representations were made in any of the 28 cases. He said the Oireachtas
Committee on the Environment had agreed to contact the minister's office to seek
all relevant papers.
"This minister's more hands-on
approach and his political involvement in the planning process should be
carefully monitored. We must learn from the hard lessons of the past where
political involvement affected the planning process," Mr Allen
said.
A
1,100-house project at Swords, Co Dublin, where archaeological concerns were
raised by officials, resulted in no appeal.
Mr Cullen said yesterday that
before the review of the heritage service the
appeals were lodged in his name
and he knew nothing of them. He was now involved, and not allowing objections
without his knowledge.
He said
the decision not to lodge appeals in these cases followed consultation with
senior officials. Eamon Gilmore, Labour environment spokesman, said the
disclosure regarding the refused appeals raised serious
questions.
Labour
had warned at the time of the general election in 2002 of potential
conflict
of interest at the department regarding development and heritage issues. The
Green Party called on Mr Cullen to reverse the decision to transfer heritage
matters to his department.
Treacy
Hogan