The OPW Minister says he hopes a new planning bill due before the Dáil in the coming months will stop serial objectors from "abusing" the planning system.
Minister Patrick O'Donovan says the current planning rules governing projects like flood defences are allowing people who will not be impacted by a project to delay them.
He is calling for a balance to be struck between people's right and the rights of the wider community and is calling for the Housing Minister to assess the impact the new bill would have if it becomes law.
Flood defence projects in Cork have been delayed by objections, with campaign group Save Cork City taking their objections to plans for Morrison's Island to the Supreme Court.
Speaking to RedFM News, OPW Minister Patrick O'Donovan says the current planning framework needs to be changed.
"There are some people who don't want anything in their backyard. They want to plug in the kettle but they don't want wind turbines, they want to plug in the kettle but they don't want electricity lattices. I'd love to know where they think the electricity is going to come from.
"They want to make a phone call without a mobile phone mast. They want to solve the housing crisis but they don't want it in their area. And they want to be able to travel on a road but they don't want it built in their communities.
"The reality is it's strangling our ability as a state to be able to deliver to communities, and it's something that is in dire need of being addressed."
