A Fianna Fáil councillor in Co Laois has blamed the Government for having a lack of vision and failing to provide sufficient schools, hospitals and other facilities for the county's burgeoning commuter-belt population.
Cllr Michael Moloney, whose brother John is a TD for Laois-Offaly, said Fianna Fáil had become "a party of power, not a party of policy" and it had "no vision of where we want to be in 20 or 30 years time".
For those in power, the State was "like a business they run from day to day", he said. And he warned that there would be "fierce consequences" if counties like Laois were neglected.
"The main problem is that there's no employment in Laois," Cllr Moloney said. "All we're doing is bringing people into the county who have to drive to Dublin for work, yet there are no schools for their kids.
"Last week alone, the county council gave planning permission for more than 400 new houses in Portlaoise. Schools in the town have no places in September, so parents are driving around the county.
"The infrastructure is not there to cater for all the houses that are being built at the minute, never mind all the others that could be built as a result of rezonings of all the villages in the draft county plan."
Cllr Moloney, who has broken with his party on several issues, said this would only create social problems because there was "nothing for young people to do".
"It's going to be like Tallaght in 20 years time. There's too much of an influx of people in too short a time. We're not taking cognisance of whether there are schools and other facilities to cater for all of this."
He pointed out that Fianna Fáil councillors had opposed the village rezonings, which were pushed through by Fine Gael, Labour, Sinn Féin, Progressive Democrat and Independent members last February.
Nearly 30 villages have been targeted for development in addition to larger towns such as Portlaoise, Portarlington and Mountmellick, which Cllr Moloney represents. Hundreds of acres of land are involved.
A special meeting of the county council will take place on September 12th, at which submissions from the public on the draft county development plan and the planners' responses will be considered.
However, there is no indication in the report prepared by county manager Peter Carey and director of services Gerry Gibson that the planners intend to row back on the draft rezonings for villages. Dealing with representations from landowners for their land to be included, and submissions from people objecting to the plan, they have merely recommended that no additional land should be rezoned.
