Housing Minister Jan O'Sullivan has said she will get tough with councils that do not cooperate with Government guidelines to deal with a surplus of land zoned for development.
Minister O'Sullivan revealed today that some 13,000 acres of land nationally had already been de-zoned for planning.
However, she said there is still an oversupply of around 64,000 acres.
The Government has published a report detailing progress made to date in implementing the guidelines, to tackle the uncoordinated zoning of the Celtic Tiger period.
Ms O'Sullivan said excessive rezoning would be tackled over the coming year through reviews of local area plans.
She said most local authorities had completed their plans to implement the guidelines, but it was unacceptable that eight had not.
Ms O'Sullivan named the eight as counties Donegal, Carlow, Longford, Westmeath, Roscommon and Meath, as well as the cities of Waterford and Limerick.
"That's when this reform process is going to get tough, changing zoning maps that hark back to the bad old days of developer-led Celtic Tiger era planning," she said.
Meath County Council has said it is working to meet the planning demands of the Department of the Environment.
A spokesperson for the local authority said a draft plan is currently before councillors. A new county development plan was also being drawn up.
Discussions on that would begin next week before going for public consultation in May.
The spokesman said the plan contains measures to address the issue of the over-zoning of land in the county.
At present there are around 1,500 hectares of land zoned for development in the county, but the council believes there is only a need for around 500 hectares.
The County and City Managers Association (CCMA) has said that some local authorities had not completed their review of zonings as they were busy with their development plans.
Waterford City Manager and CCMA spokesperson Michael Walsh said: “It would not make sense to duplicate processes and costs at this time.
“To do so would also confuse the public and is not warranted, given that there is only very limited planning and development activity at present. All development plans will be revised in a limited timeframe.”
