The Housing Minister is being urged to appoint an independent planning expert to investigate the Taoiseach's comments in relation to his intervention in the planning process in Doonbeg.

Sinn Féin spokesperson on Planning and Local Government Eoin Ó Broin TD also called on Minister Eoghan Murphy to present the findings at the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government.

He said: "The Taoiseach's admission that he intervened on behalf of Donald Trump in the planning process for a wind farm close to his Doonbeg resort shows yet again that the lessons of the past have not been learned.

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"There is a long history of politicians and Ministers inappropriately interfering in the planning process to ensure that they can continue to exert undue influence on the outcome of what should be an independent process. Such practices were rightly exposed in the Mahon Tribunal report.

"The Taoiseach's latest admission has all the hallmarks of such planning practices.

"As the Government has to date refused to set up the independent planning regulator as recommended by Mahon, I am calling on Minister Murphy to appoint an independent planning expert to do a short and sharp investigation into the Taoiseach's comments regarding his intervention in the planning process in Doonbeg, and to present this to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government."

(CD/MH)