Public disquiet about land rezoning around the country following the Flood Tribunal must be addressed by the immediate establishment of a Land Use Commission, according to Fine Gael.
The Fine Gael spokesperson on environment and local government, Mr Bernard Allen, said: "An Taisce have said that five hundred thousand new houses are due for construction over the next ten years, so it is vital that rezoning of land complies strictly with the long-delayed National Spatial Strategy and regional planning guidelines.
"Fine Gael has been advocating a Land Use Commission for quite some time and we are now calling on the government to put in place such a commission.
"There is urgent need for a National Land Use Commission to certify the validity of all future land rezoning decisions and no land rezoning decision made at local level will have legal effect without that certification.
"This new body will not impose any lengthy delays - once the local decision regarding rezoning is taken the commission will decide on the validity of the rezoning within eight weeks," he said.
The long-awaited National Spatial Strategy is due to be published in the autumn.