ABOUT 60 people protested outside the monthly meeting of Kerry County Council yesterday seeking to persuade councillors and planners to loosen up planning in the countryside.
Organised by the Irish Rural Dwellers Association, those attending the protest claimed landowners were being "planned out of existence".
IRDA founder Jim Connolly told the protest rural dwellers were suffering from "British ideology".
"When we introduced planning laws in 1963 we invited British rule and ideas back into this country," he said.
The protesters included farmers who said they wanted to be able to sell sites to gain income, along with a small number of rural businessmen who said they had had enforcement proceedings served on them.
One man had covered his face with a white mask. He said the mask symbolised his experience with "faceless planners".
He identified himself as Brian O'Connor (44), a father of five originally from Ballymacelligott, Tralee.
Last month at the District Court in Tralee, he pleaded guilty to assaulting two senior planners in their offices in Kerry County Council, Tralee, after his quarry was closed on foot of legal proceeding. The case was adjourned to December 2009.
Yesterday Mr O'Connor also claimed he could not get planning for a house on his land.
Spokeswoman Brigid O'Connor, secretary of the IRDA, said people born in rural areas should be entitled to live in those areas. She claimed builders and developers had a glut of property in urban areas and country people were being hunted into towns as a result. "People are being told to live where they work, which is often in urban areas," Ms O'Connor said.
Thousands of houses are granted permission in rural Kerry each year, where the actual need is hundreds.
Some 80 per cent of applications are approved, planners have pointed out.
Kerry county manager Tom Curran has previously warned that while he would make every effort to accommodate local people, he suspected some people were attempting to cod planners.
Scenic areas are under enormous pressure and there is a need to protect areas of amenity, for conservation purposes as well as to protect the county's biggest industry - the tourism industry, several reports have found.
Yesterday, senior planner Tom Sheehy said the council was doing its best to facilitate people - "but we can't facilitate everyone".