Minister of State with responsible for planning, Ciarán Cuffe, today welcomed the publication of an expert report from NUI Maynooth which finds planning failures contributed to the property bubble and the current financial crisis. He also said that many of their recommendations are already well in hand.

Minister for Planning Ciarán Cuffe said:

"I look forward to a more considered reading of this detailed report. But an initial reading tells me that we in the Green Party have been saying precisely these things for many years now.

"There is a direct link between planning failures and the over-supply of housing in totally inapprorpriate places. This did feed the property bubble which has now had terrible consequences for so many ordinary workers and their families."

The Minister of State said that many of the recommendations are already covered by the Planning & Development Act which was passed by the Oireachtas just before the summer recess and will very shortly become law. He said this was the biggest reform of planning since the early 1960s and especially targetted the issue of land over-zoning by local councils.

Minister Cuffe also noted that the National Institute of Regional Spatial Analysis called for an investigation into the planning failures,

"This is already to be done in the case of six councils which have the subject of complaints and which will now be assessed by independent outside planning experts. This process will be very revealing and there is nothing to stop its extension to other areas."

He also said that measures are now being prepared to deal with the issue of unfinished housing estates in various parts of the country and these will be advanced in coming months. The new planning act gives local authorities powers to take control of unfinished estates.

Minister Cuffe said he looked forward to new national spatial planning guidelines which are currently being considered by government and likely to be approved in September. He also said he was bemused by comments from some opposition politicians who had totally opposed his planning reforms as they passed through the Dáil and Seanad.