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Govt planning report 'cover up' claim by Greens

The Green Party has accused the Government of a "cover-up job" after a report into planning irregularities at local authorities found no evidence of wrongdoing.

Former Green Environment Minister John Gormley had ordered an independent review following complaints against seven councils.

But the review published yesterday found no evidence of any wrongdoing in the councils examined.

Instead it made a number of recommendations to improve the clarity, consistency, and transparency of planning decisions.

Junior Minister with responsibility for Housing and Planning Jan O'Sullivan, who published the report, said there are lessons to be learned and measures will be taken to ensure that the planning system is transparent into the future

Green Party leader Eamon Ryan however said the Government has deliberately avoided confronting problems in the planning process.

"We had corrupt planning across the State," Mr Ryan said. "It wasn't just a Dublin problem."

"(We had) rezoning problems in our councils, planning irregularities across the country in how councils worked.

"Rather than actually getting to the root cause of that and showing up the real problem, this Government has said no, an internal inquiry within the civil service is fine.

"I don't think that's good enough."