Environmental groups to sound alarm bells over proposed planning laws 

The Irish Environmental Network is set to raise its concerns about the draft Planning and Development Bill at Tuesday's meeting of the Oireachtas housing committee. File picture: PA

The Government’s proposed new planning laws would create a “veritable cat’s cradle of obstacles” for the public to hold authorities to account and uncertainties will “spread like a virus through the whole system”, TDs are to be told.

In addition, access to the courts will also be compromised in an “entirely dysfunctional and counter-intuitive" way, the committee will be told, while the bill would give “untrammelled power” to the minister in certain matters which is of “serious concern”.