A special meeting of Louth County Council last night confirmed there will be no further changes to the controversial Dunleer local area development plan.
Previous amendments allow for more than a tripling of the village's population. It also provides for the rezoning of 47 acres of woodland owned by businessman Mr Donal Kinsella for commercial and industrial use. He is seeking planning permission from the council to build what would be the State's first motorway service station.
Mr Kinsella is the chairman of the South Louth Cumann of Fianna Fáil. The recent rezoning of his lands is estimated to have increased their value by up to €9 million. The lands were three times the subject of unsuccessful planning applications for a retail outlet centre.
Legal advice sought by the council confirmed the amended plan for Dunleer was consistent with the county development plan. Last night's meeting marked the end of the political process on the plan. However, a revised written statement with maps will be compiled by the local authority to accurately reflect the intention of the resolution passed by councillors at a meeting on September 15th.
Last night's meeting was called by Cllr Michael O'Dowd (FG) who said the Dunleer plan was a "mess". He said there should be a further period of public consultation because he believed what was adopted at the September meeting was a variation of the county development plan.
Cllr O'Dowd said if its population exceeded 4,000 the plan should move from a category one designation to the larger villages and towns designation.
He questioned the population figures used. The plan allows for 35 houses per hectare with 2.8 residents per house. He said this figure would exceed 4,000 and the plan would not be sustainable. He added the census figures showed three people per household.
However, the senior planning officer, Mr Gerry Duffy, said a variety of factors were taken into consideration. The birth rate was going down and some figures suggested a residency as low as 2.6. He said there was a set of assumptions used which were applied to the entire county plan. He said he still supported the original plan as the best and most appropriate one but accepted the entitlement of the council to vary the plan as it had done.
Former PD Councillor Mary Grehan (Ind) expressed her anger that a decision was made at the September meeting at which so few people attended. She added: "People whose own party members would benefit from the plan should be the last to push it through".