The new planning and development bill must put a stop to unwarranted planning appeals that are disrupting farmers’ plans to upgrade their farms, Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) national environment chair John Murphy has said.

“We are hearing reports from around the country of multiple objections from the same individual.

"It was raised last week at our south Tipperary county executive, at which farmers spoke of their frustration and annoyance at being at the mercy of opportunistic appeals that are merely designed to create backlogs in the system,” Murphy said.

Very often, he added, the objection to An Bord Pleanála is withdrawn before the decision is due, so the fee is refunded.

'Blatant abuse'

"In our view, it’s a blatant abuse of the planning system and has to be addressed in the new planning and development bill,” he said.

The IFA has written to Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien outlining that it is absolutely vital that the new bill ensures farmer planning applications are not open to obstruction by false and unfounded claims by individuals or organisations who have no sufficient interest in the progression of a planning application.

South Tipperary IFA chair Pat Carroll said the objections are having an impact that’s wider than just individual farmers.

“Local suppliers, builders, merchants and service providers are finding it difficult to co-ordinate their work because of what’s going on.

"It’s holding back economic activity and deliberately obstructing works that bring efficiency and environmental benefits,” Carroll said.

“The Minister now has to make sure the new planning bill stops what I firmly believe is abuse of our planning system,” he said.

Carroll said the county councillors who attended the meeting said their hands were tied and they were equally frustrated with the exploitation of the system.