LABOUR has accused the Progressive Democrats of initiating a land rezoning in Dublin West which helped developers make "fabulous quick profits".
The Minister of State, Ms Joan Burton, and the party's candidate in the Dublin West by election, Councillor Michael O'Donovan, claimed yesterday that 70 acres at Laraghcon, near Lucan, were sold recently for £3.4 million, or about £50,000 per acre.
The land had been rezoned in the last development plan review against the advice of planners, they said.
Nearby land which had not been rezoned was sold at £5,000 per acre, so the Laraghcon sale represented a 10 fold increase in the value of the land, Mr O'Donovan and Ms Burton said.
They challenged the PD leader, Ms Mary Harney, to explain why her party had made an exception for this parcel of land when it was generally opposed to the "rezoning frenzy" in Co Dublin.
However, the PD candidate in the by election, Ms Sheila Terry, said last night that the rezoning had been initiated in 1993 by all four councillors in the Castleknock electoral area, in which the land is located.
This had been done in response to the concerns of traders and in order to restore balance in the development of Lucan village.
Of the five PD councillors on Dublin County Council, two had voted for the rezoning, two against, and one abstained. Ms Terry asked why six Labour councillors were absent from the meeting, given their concern about the development.
The proposal to rezone the land was passed by a margin of four votes. She accused Ms Burton of being motivated by a concern to "revive the collapsed Labour vote in Dublin West".
