The Mayor of Galway has criticised An Bord Pleanála for refusing a number of housing developments there in recent weeks.
Clodagh Higgins was speaking as Galway City Council's chief executive warned it will not be able to meet its social housing needs for the 'foreseeable future'.
Galway currently has over 4,000 people on its housing list, with projections that the city's population will grow by 40,000 by 2040.
Mayor Higgins has put down a motion, calling on senior Ministers to meet with city officials.
She told Newstalk Breakfast the developments were rejected for being too car-dependent.
"The reasons given for the refusal in the development at Keeraun was that they considered it to be piecemeal, with inadequate provision of social and physical infrastructure, and that such a development would be excessively car-dependent," she said.
"They also said the substandard condition of the road at Ballymoneen was also a factor.
"In the Headford Road case, again, the development was considered to be too car-dependent.
"This is a development that's a 20-minute walk from the city centre - so decisions by An Bord Pleanála are simply baffling at the moment."
'Flatly refused'
Mayor Higgins said conditional planning permission could have been granted.
"I can't understand why planning couldn't be granted with conditions attached, such as upgrading the footpaths, roads and so forth," she said.
"We all appreciate that the road at Keeraun needed to be upgraded, and there were active plans in place that the upgrade would happen in tandem with housing developments.
"An Bord Pleanála didn't give Galway City Council an opportunity to explain that, they just flatly refused the application".
'Working against our objective'
She said she appreciates that houses cannot be built just anywhere.
"When you pair it all back we have an urgent requirement for housing," she said.
"The Council and private developers are willing to develop sites to meet our housing needs.
"Yet we have an independent agency of the State essentially working against our collective objective.
"They could have helped us find a way forward with conditional planning, which would have benefited the community two-fold," she added.
Listen back to the full interview below:
