By Irishexaminer.com,Mick Clifford

Copyright irishexaminer

That does sound as ridiculous as the developers quoted in the story maintained. Why would there be dezoning of land ready for housing at a time like this?

Submissions from various developers suggested that the dezoning was directly stopping the building of homes all ready to go.

Within 24 hours, it turned out that this was not as it seemed.

In response to the story, Wicklow County Council issued a detailed release the following day confirming there “are no proposals in the Draft Local Planning Framework for Greystones-Delgany and Kilcoole to ‘dezone’ 3,000 houses worth of development land”.

It went on to point out that there was “no shortage of zoned land in order to meet current targets as well as possible future targets”.

As well, it detailed how all of its planned zonings had faithfully followed a whole plethora of criteria set out by various state bodies, including a series of directives from the housing minister.

Apart from all that, the plan was approved by the Office of the Planning Regulator, set up to oversee proper planning in the State, which concluded it “sets out a clear zoning strategy and framework for the future development of the lands concerned”.

Quite obviously, developers’ submissions did not agree with elements of the plan but, irrespective of that, it was assembled precisely as the law and national guidelines dictate.

These things happen. But what occurred thereafter is the desperate spin.

One might have thought that on reading the Business Post on the Sunday, somebody in Government would check out with the county council what the hell was going on. And they would have been put right. Failing that, one would have thought that the release from the council on the Monday would have been required reading in governing just to ensure that nothing ridiculous was afoot in the vital area of housing. Again, the powers that be would have been put right.

Instead, it would appear either nobody bothered to brief the Taoiseach or else he couldn’t help but spin the yarn to suit his purpose.

On the Tuesday, at the Fianna Fail think-in, Micheal Martin expressed himself “shocked” at the story about Wicklow County Council, adding “we’re running out of patience”.

There is, he told reporters, a housing crisis. “Many councils are dragging their feet on this,” he said. He has spoken to a number of councils on the matter. If they weren’t going to shake a leg then he would have to overrule them and come in to apply executive power.

“I have said if they are not going to do it, Government are going to do it directly,” he said, adding that he “cannot see how councils are de-zoning land that is suitable for housing”.

What is genuinely shocking is that the Taoiseach of the country was grabbing a headline to deflect from his Government and feed into a narrative that councils are blocking the best efforts to get homes built.

Contrary to what Mr Martin said, there was no dezoning of lands.

The plan that had attracted submissions from developers was carefully tailored to comply with regulations and directions implemented by his own and previous governments.

The plan was signed off by the Planning Regulator, an office established on foot of wholesale corruption to ensure that all development plans are in line with national policy. Is Mr Martin of the opinion that such safeguards are no longer required?

Does he want developers to be the final arbiters of proper planning? Or was he just using the occasion to divert the pressure on the crisis from central government to local authorities?

Taoiseach’s ‘gaslighting’

Sinn Féin’s housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin described the Taoiseach’s “bizarre” comments as “a masterclass in shifting blame”.

“The idea that councils are to blame for the housing crisis in both wrong and deeply offensive to councillors and officials across the state,” Ó Broin said.

This is gaslighting of the very worst kind from Micheál Martin and threatened to further undermine the already strained relationship between local and central government.

It’s difficult to disagree with that. Ultimately though, Mr Martin’s declaration that the Government will take the power to determine development plans away from local authorities is more worrying than the desperate spinning.

It smacks of the populist impulse to ignore both technical expertise and local democracy in order to tackle a crisis through getting a quick win with public opinion, rather than governing efficiently and fairly.

That’s no way to run a country and certainly no way to get a handle on the biggest crisis now being faced.