Greens: Planning corruption victimised housebuyers

Planning corruption in the 1980s and 1990s has left hundreds of thousands of victims in its wake, it was claimed today.

The Green Party will tonight table a Private Member’s Motion in the Dáil to condemn political bribes for land rezoning and seek legislation to improve planning procedures.

Greens leader Trevor Sargent said ordinary people and their families are today living with the legacy of corrupt planning decisions over the last two decades.

“These victims are mainly ordinary taxpayers fleeced by the big developer friends of ’Bertie the Builder’. Many of these housebuyer victims are now heavily-indebted families with no option but to live far away from jobs, shops and essential services.”

The Dublin North TD claimed that Fianna Fáil members were suffering from collective amnesia regarding what payments they had received and when.

“The Green Party motion reflects an anger and frustration which is widespread at the lack of censure for corruption uncovered by the Mahon Tribunal on Planning.

“Instead of censure, we see the Government declare it cannot comment on the blatant revelations of corruption claiming deference to the interminable tribunal process.

“If the Government will not instruct self-confessed bribe-recipients to stand aside, then the public needs to hand down a clear verdict if politics is to have any standards worth talking about.”

Fianna Fáil has ruled out any further inquiry into donations by developers to party TDs until the Mahon Tribunal completes its work.

GV Wright admitted getting a payment of IR£5,000 from south Dublin developer Chris Jones in 1992 but had told an internal Fianna Fáil inquiry in 2000 that he had received only IR£500.

Party colleague Senator Don Lydon similarly admitted receiving IR£7,000 he had failed to tell the Fianna Fáil probe about.

Greens chairman John Gormley TD queried if Tánaiste Mary Harney had full confidence in her coalition colleagues.

“At the last election, her party asked the public to reject one-party government by Fianna Fáil. What precisely are the differences now between her party and Fianna Fáil in terms of ethics?

“The Taoiseach has shown time and time again that as long as there is no pressure on him, he will take no action against colleagues who have strayed or who have severe memory lapses.”

Greens environment spokesperson Ciarán Cuffe said the planning system must be beyond reproach.

“Any decision by a local authority to rezone land must in future be vetted by a body such as An Bord Pleanála to ensure that they are based on sustainable development principles,” he said.

Mr Cuffe said legislation was necessary to ensure that political parties refuse funding from developers and added “the mere acceptance of such monies may be construed as having an undue influence on development decisions”.