Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 3 October 2019

Public Accounts Committee

2018 Financial Statements of An Bord Pleanála

9:00 am

Photo of Alan KellyAlan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

First, I disagree with the decision. That is fine. However, take the circle of the decision-making process. It is corrupted if a person is appealing it and then the board has to consider that as part of the mix. It cannot say that it is the same complete decision if it got all the way through the board but the person objecting does not exist.

One wonders why people have concerns about An Bord Pleanála. I have had concerns about it from a transparency point of view for many years. This is an ultimate example of why people have concerns. That is why Mr. Walsh must clean it up. I will not stop in my political career until this is fixed. I will keep going on this issue because I believe it must be cleaned up.

The people of Ballinskelligs, a small little place in south Kerry who are dependent on this type of development and need it, will not have this hotel because of this decision.

The decision was made by An Bord Pleanála and that is fine. It was a decision that pre-dated Mr. Walsh and that is fine. The fact the people in Ballinskelligs cannot find out who one of the people who objected was, and it got all the way through to the board, is fundamentally, totally and utterly wrong and cannot be allowed to happen in modern Ireland. The impact it has on small places is disproportionate and morally wrong. There are many other questions about it. Mr. Walsh should take that for what it is worth.

I have a couple of comments to make on transparency and I will get back to my recommendations. That was a Freudian slip; I mean the recommendations that came out of the report. My colleague went through issues about who makes decisions and most people do not know that it can come down to three people. I knew that, although most people did not. I do not agree with it, but I know it. I think that at the end of each year, the names of the people who made decisions on each file must be published. An Bord Pleanála should bring that in.

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