Galway's county manager, Mr Donal O'Donoghue, has criticised the Minister of State for Labour Affairs, Mr Frank Fahey, for making an "unwarranted and abusive attack" on his planning officials.
Mr O'Donoghue says he strenuously objects to the Minister's recent comments in which he urged local councillors not to allow county managers or planning officials to "dictate what's best for rural Ireland".
Speaking at a Local Authority Members' Association (LAMA) conference in Galway, the Minister of State, who is also a Fianna Fáil TD for Galway West, said that, in 30 years as an elected representative, he had rarely seen "the type of dictatorial approach which has been evident by senior management and planning officials in Galway County Council".
The Minister welcomed the decision by Galway county councillors to carry out material alterations to the new county plan to ensure that their wishes were complied with in relation to rural housing.
In a letter sent yesterday to the Minister of State, the Galway county manager says that the Minister's comments are unfounded and unfair to the senior officials and staff of Galway County Council.
He strenuously objects to the Minister of State's "unfounded" assertion that a dictatorial approach had been evident among senior management and planning officials in the local authority during the recent adoption of the Galway County Development Plan.
"My officials and I held no fewer than 27 separate meetings with elected representatives prior to the adoption of the Galway County Development Plan, including one full council meeting that commenced at 10 a.m. on a Saturday morning and concluded at 1.15 a.m. on the following day. At the end of this process, the council adopted the development plan," Mr O'Donoghue says in his letter.
The Minister of State had also incorrectly stated that the council had decided to carry out material alterations to the plan, Mr O'Donoghue says, although no such decision had been made.
The county manager also takes issue with the Minister's claim that the interpretation of sustainable development by some west of Ireland planning officials involved approving one-off houses in exceptional circumstances.
"The current percentage for Co Galway is considerably higher and growing," he says in his letter to Mr Fahey.
Mr O'Donoghue also describes his staff as most professional, adding that they feel "very let down by your unwarranted and abusive attack on them".