At first glance the decision of planning authorities in counties Clare, Tipperary and Wicklow to discriminate against those from outside their areas, would seem to be - at best - in breach of fair play. After all, under Title III of the Treaty of Rome, the founding articles of the European Union, workers have the right to travel to, and live in, all member-states. Surely the spirit if not the letter of Title III implies equality of treatment with indigenous people?

The former Labour Party TD for Co Clare, Dr Moosajee Bhamjee, says the idea that a community could decide where different types of people can live is so abhorrent that he has pledged himself to take a constitutional case against it and is actively seeking backers.

The chairman and founder of Rural Resettlement Ireland (RRI), Mr Jim Connolly, agrees. RRI has helped to resettle more than 400 families from urban areas to rural locations in the Republic, and Jim is appalled at the notion of communities deciding where certain types of people live. It is, he insists, a clear abuse of human rights.

"Once you legislate for this it is only a matter of degree how far you go. You are saying that you have the absolute right to decide who lives next door to you. Across the Border in our own country there are people trying to enforce this at the point of a gun.

"It is as fundamental as that, you are legislating for prejudice and opening the doors to every kind of humanitarian ill," Mr Connolly maintained.

However, a growing number of local authorities in picturesque areas and close to the burgeoning greater Dublin area are adamant that there is no element of racism in restricting planning permissions to ensure a bias in favour of locals - as long as their livelihood depends upon the land.

Mr Michael Nicholson, acting secretary of Wicklow County Council, which has adopted such a policy, says that proper planning control and land use management dictate that there must be controls on where people live.

"There are a lot of people who could come down from Dublin and buy a rural site in Wicklow for £120,000 an acre and build a ranch-style home, simply because of the higher house prices in Dublin. But they do nothing for proper planning and development," he insists.

This kind of "sporadic development" he says is unplanned and results in more septic tanks than is environmentally sustainable, and the deployment of at least two cars per household as one partner commutes to work and the other takes children to schools and organises shopping, etc.

In this light, the measure is simply seeking to restrict the spread of what has often been described as the "bungalow blight".

Mr Nicholson rejects the "racist" slur, saying the authority has no difficulty in anyone moving to the county to live and to work.

"They are welcome to live in our towns and villages on zoned land where services and facilities can be provided. Anyone is welcome here wherever they are from," he says.

In relation to who gets permission to build in the rural area, Mr Nicholson acknowledges that there is a hierarchy "in favour of locals". Where a family farm is involved, a son or a daughter should be able to provide a home for themselves. The same rule is applied to other agri-business, and that is the basis for the council's discrimination, he says.

The legal right of the local authorities to discriminate on these grounds is enshrined in the Local Government Planning and Development Act, according to a spokesman for Clare County Council.

The Act was amended in 1976 (Section 39h), to the effect that "a condition specifying that the use of a dwelling shall be restricted to use by persons of a particular class or description" may be imposed, the spokesman pointed out.

However, while Mr Bhamjee acknowledges that a "land use" restriction - such as that which favours the son or daughter of a farmer who wants to continue to farm - might affect all equally, he says nothing has been enacted or is in the conditions now being imposed by councils to forbid locals from engaging in speculative sporadic development. This, he says, could allow locals to build and sell houses on a continual basis, while "outsiders" are forbidden from doing so.

He accepts that in seeking to restrain development to those with an approved need, local authorities are simply implementing much-needed planning controls aimed at the proper development of towns and villages. But he says the criteria is too wide and would allow those "on the inside" to get preferential treatment.

In implementing the policy, it is clear that the planning authorities should also seek to restrain those who get permission from engaging in speculative ventures. If they do not, the policy is clearly unfair.

There is a need for central government to take a lead in issuing guidelines or amending the Planning Act to ensure that local authorities are not subject to the slur of racism. Unfortunately, experience shows that the Government is unlikely to act until a decision of the courts forces it to do so.