Planning decisions - Reform this sad, shabby business

THERE are few areas where the conflict between private property rights and the ability of a community to protect its best interests come into sharper conflict than under our planning laws and culture.

There is no area that shows our political system in a poorer light than the shabby, conflict-of-interest skullduggery that passes for planning management through local democracy.

More than one in five councillors deal in or develop land through their day jobs as auctioneers, landowners or builders. In Mayo and Offaly that figure is almost one in two and, in eight other counties, it is at least one in three. So, in a significant proportion of our local authorities, at least a third of elected representatives are in the property business.