Sir, - John Colgan's letter of July 29th is peppered with omissions, innuendoes, half truth and downright untruths. He omitted to state that he is a member of the Progressive Democrat Party, or that the leader of that party in Kildare and National Chairman, Senator John Dardis, had approximately 20 acres of his own land zoned for residential development in a rural area outside Newbridge town, thereby increasing the value of the land from £60,000 to £1m.
He also failed to inform your readers that the two PD councillors on Kildare County Council, John Dardis and Timmy Conway, have consistently supported the excessive zonings in County Kildare in areas as far apart as Johnstown and Clane. They look set to do likewise in Kilcock and Maynooth.
Now to the half truths in the three main towns of North Kildare, Leixlip, Celbridge and Maynooth, rezoning decisions have been made in only one of these towns - namely, Leixlip.
Celbridge has not been examined by the council to date, and Maynooth is at the draft stage of the plan and decisions will not be made until the autumn. In these three towns, 128 acres have been rezoned for residential development to date, and not 700 acres as stated by Mr Colgan.
I would suggest that his statement that "the Leixlip draft had been recommended unanimously except for seven areas" is also a half truth, or a half baked truth. In the case of Leixlip the Labour councillors, McGinley and Purcell were prepared to vote for rezoning of 60 acres for the provision of social housing over the next five years. When this wash expanded to 128 acres, they correctly voted against. It is untrue to say they did otherwise, or that they did so for any other reason.
In the matter of rezoning, John Colgan is desperate to be on the side of the angels but finds himself severely compromised by the zoning enthusiasts in his own party, the PDs. He now attempts to compensate for this handicap by attacking the Labour and Democratic Left councillors, who have been in the vanguard of the fight to stop the madness that has infected Kildare and for the proper planning and development of the county.
The case for the Minister for the Environment, Brendan Howlin, TD, to use the powers vested in him by the 1963 Planning Act will be presented to him by the Labour Party in Kildare and by the community organisations in the various towns. I would urge John Colgan to concentrate his undoubted talents on convincing his PD councillors to change their attitude to the rezonings, and if he is not capable of doing so he should enlist the support of his party Leader, Mary Harney in the matter. Perhaps she could whip her councillors into line. - Yours, etc.,
Minister of State,
Department of Transport, Energy and Communications, Dublin 2.