Legislative change in Ireland: a Marxist political economy critique of planning law

Relatively little attention has been given in the planning literature to investigating the nature of legislative change in the planning domain. Utilising a political economy approach, this article analyses recent planning legislative change in the Republic of Ireland. The article argues that changes in planning legislation can be interpreted within a broader agenda of entrepreneurial planning within the Irish state. In critiquing recent change, three key issues are highlighted: (1) the state, through legislation, facilitates development capital over the interests of the general population; (2) entrepreneurial planning approaches can be traced to formal legislative change; (3) recent legislative change has been designed specifically to reduce democracy in the planning process. The findings support the assertion that planning legislation predominantly facilitates the interests of elite groups in society over those of the 'common good'.