Rural towns and villages should be supported to prevent declining population and closures of schools, post offices and Garda stations, the president of An Taisce told an Oireachtas committee yesterday.
Such closures and the absence of young families were undermining communities, while development which reinforced services in rural towns and villages was vital, according to Mr Frank Corcoran.
The assertion, part An Taisce's 73-page submission on one-off rural housing to the Oireachtas Committee on Environment, drew gasps from some members.
Mr Bernard Allen TD (Fine Gael) said he had been told that An Taisce was basically opposed to rural housing and was "arrogant and distant from the people on the ground".
A number of rural community pro-housing organisations as well as independent TDs Dr Jerry Cowley, Ms Marion Harkin, and Mr Jackie Healy-Rae, together with Mr John Brady (FF) and Senator Timmy Dooley (FF) also criticised An Taisce, citing its objections to one-off housing.
The Labour Party spokesman on the Environment, Mr Eamon Gilmore, challenged An Taisce to provide examples of what type of development it supported.
In a day-long session which occasionally became heated, Mr Healy-Rae had claimed An Taisce had caused "more destruction in south Kerry than anything caused by the bombing of the second World War".
He went on to compare the "destruction" to the dropping of an atom bomb.
The Green Party TD for Dún Laoghaire, Mr Ciarán Cuffe, insisted on a retraction from Mr Healy-Rae but walked out as the chairman, Mr Seán Power, told him: "It is not your first time to walk out. If you want to leave, feel free to do so."
Defending An Taisce, Mr Corcoran said the key to development was sustainability; while it was sustainable to support rural communities, the proliferation of one-off housing was a huge user of resources and had polluted watercourses including drinking water.
Sustainable development was now a legal obligation and was supported by a number of national and European policies. He said it was An Taisce's statutory role to examine development proposals and comment on them.
He did not accept that these comments were all negative and gave instances of a number of occasions where An Taisce's intervention had resulted in better development, particularly housing, the protection of the environment and compliance with EU directives.
An Taisce's Mr Ian Lumley also cited cases in west Cork and Mayo where An Taisce had acted in the best interests in of the environment and not simply to prevent development.
The developments the organisation supported were many, but these did not get the attention in the media that opposition to developments did, he maintained.
An Taisce's views on the unsustainability of one-off rural housing coincided with much of the submission of the Royal Institute of Architects in Ireland and the Irish Planning Institute.
Mr Toal Ó Muire, president of the Royal Institute of Architects, referred to the comments by the Minister for Environment, Mr Cullen, that people should be able to live in their native area.
"This should mean in the RIAI's view that they should live within easy reach of the local parish school, shop and church to which hopefully their small children can walk safely. It does not mean a constitutional or God-given right . . . to get planning permission for a house in a field of the applicant's choice, far from a village centre."
