Taoiseach claims confidence 'can be restored' in An Bord Pleanála
Taoiseach Micheál Martin meeting students at MIC Thurles on Friday. He spoke to reporters during his visit to Thurles Primary Care Centre. Picture: Brian Arthur
Public confidence in An Bord Pleanála can be restored, the Taoiseach has said.
Micheál Martin said the Government is committed to reforming planning laws and how the board operates, when asked about recent controversies, including a lack of transparency and the departures of key staff.
He also said the body itself has to be reformed.
He said: “Of course [public confidence] can be restored and the housing minister is looking at a number of reforms of An Bord Pleanála, which has to happen.
“Prior to this, we had initiated — over a year ago — a fundamental overhaul of the planning system, which will lead to the publication of new legislation in respect to planning more generally to have a more streamlined approach with people getting timelines in terms of when one makes application that you can be you can expect a response within a reasonable timeframe.”
Speaking to reporters at the opening of the Thurles Primary Care Centre, he said he did not want to be drawn on aspects of the current crisis which are the subject of legal action.
But he said Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien is “considering” an internal report conducted by An Bord Pleanála into a number of allegations about the conduct of officials.
Of more immediate concern though was the issue of replacing board members who have left the planning board.
Mr Martin said: “The minister is looking at modalities of recruitment to An Bord Pleanála and looking at reforms of An Bord Pleanála, which I think are necessary in terms of how An Bord Pleanála is, and the recruitment processes and so forth, the need for more specialists in An Bord Pleanála more generally.
“So that’s work in progress and work under review, whilst at the same time given the huge issues in housing, we the need to get more housing projects underway, infrastructure projects, offshore wind because of the energy crisis that’s looming, we need to keep the edifice intact as well.
“And we need to keep applications flowing and we need to keep decisions flowing, so that’s a challenging situation for us.”
An Bord Pleanála’s chairman stepped down on Thursday as increasing pressure over malpractice at the planning authority led to an intervention from Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien.
The board has now been reduced to just four operational board members, from a normal complement of 10, following the decision by chairman Dave Walsh to step away.
His resignation came after the Fórsa union wrote to him on behalf of senior An Bord Pleanála inspectors, demanding the publication of an internal review into malpractices.
