A spokesperson defended the decision to the Sunday Times saying the Taoiseach wasn’t asking councilors to support bad planning and that this involved a high rise apartment block in the middle of a housing estate.

Mr Varadkar described the decision to grant a scaled down version of the development as a “huge error of judgement” which would have unacceptable implications long into the future.

He claimed the four story apartment design model had long fallen into disfavor and it was grossly insensitive of local feeling to permit such dated architecture.

Shane Coleman and Paul Williams discuss whether this is a case of NIMBYism on the part of the Taoiseach. 

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