A special meeting of Clare County Council was told last night there was no part of Co Clare in which people of any origin were not welcome to live.
Defending the council's proposal of generally banning "outsiders" from parts of Co Clare, the county manager, Mr Willie Moloney, said the policy was to encourage people to go to areas not under development pressure.
He told council members: "In most circumstances, the proposed planning policy makes no distinction between local and non-local people. There is, however, a case for making such a distinction in some areas."
He said the description of the plan's settlement policy as "racist" was seriously misleading.
