Environment: The Constitution should be changed to ensure land rezoning profits benefited the State rather than property speculators, according to Green Party TD, Mr Ciarán Cuffe.
"The sordid tale unfolding in the Flood tribunal requires constitutional changes to ensure that history is not repeated," the Dún Laoghaire TD told the party's annual convention.
Although the existing Constitution protected private property rights, it also made clear that this right should be regulated by the principles of social justice, he said.
Constitutional change was necessary to ensure that those on average wages had "a real opportunity" to buy homes "or rent without being in fear of rack-renting landlords".
People owning large four- and five-bedroomed houses should not have to pay stamp duty if they traded down to a smaller house in their later years, once their children had left home. "This would release a significant amount of dwellings in our greying suburbs," he said, and would ensure that schools in such areas continued to have sufficient pupils nearby.
Tenants should get one month's notice to quit for every five they had occupied a property. "The slogans of 'fair rent' and 'fixity of tenure' are as relevant today as they were in the 19th century," he said.
Meanwhile, the Government's plans to build incinerators were sharply condemned by the Greens who warned that it would kill off efforts to encourage people to recycle waste.
Party leader Mr Sargent said all landfill waste was avoidable. "The fertility taken from from farms in the form of crops or animal products has not been returned to the land. This open loop is not sustainable. The dry material should be reusable. If it is not so, the manufacturer needs to be made to make it so," he told delegates.
"Progress to actually start reducing packaging is still depressingly slow. As things stand, Ireland is better at making waste than making profits. For every 100 kg of product, 3,000 kg of waste is created," Mr Sargent said.
Ms Heidi Bedell , a councillor, with Fingal County Council, said recycling efforts had already made a significant impact on the council.
"There has been a 40 per cent drop in the number of bins collected. Bin runs are faster as a result. Waste-reduction is pointless if you incinerate because those companies want trade," she said, adding that the proposed Poolbeg incinerator would need to burn between 800,000-1 million tonnes of waste.
Mr Niall Ó Brolcháin (Galway) said recyling Galway city's waste had been cut by 77 per cent. "Incinerators produce one tonne of ash for every three tonnes of waste burned. Where will the ash go? They won't tell us."
Internationally, such waste tended to be dumped closest to the poorest communities who were "the most powerless to prevent it coming in their direction", Mr Cuffe said.
"Cement Roadstone's statement that they don't know who dumped hundreds of thousands of tonnes of rubbish on their lands nearly Blessington, Co Wickow, has left many scratching their heads.
"It has also given rise to concerns about possible contamination of Dublin's water supply. Illegal dumping is still taking place in every county of Ireland as unscrupulous contractors and household continue to take the easy option of unlawfully disposing of waste," he said.
