Did we really need Prime Time's sting to show us there was endemic corruption in Ireland?

WE DIDN’T need Prime Time’s sting operation to tell us there was endemic corruption in our planning processes in this country. We only had to look at our destroyed landscapes and our ghost estates, writes Victoria White.

You could put them down to simple ignorance and stupidity, both of which have played a part. But we’ve known for a long time that there’s more to it than that. We have seen, heard and funded the Mahon Tribunal. Investigative journalists from Joe MacAnthony to Frank Mc Donald have focussed sternly on planning corruption across national broadsheets.

Prime Time itself addressed this very issue in a 2007 programme called ‘The Pressure Zone’ in which the star performer was, yet again, Fine Gael councillor for Clones, Hugh McElvaney. He seemed to think nothing of houses being built on stilts in a rezoned flood plain. The flood plain was rezoned, by 19 votes to 18, against the strong advice of the planners. It made a pretty scene on Prime Time with swans swimming around in it.