Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I looked for decisions on the An Bord Pleanála website. I have never seen anything like how scant it is and yet Mr. Walsh says all the information is publicly available. The names of the inspector and the board member are included. There is a description of the case type, which might state "normal planning". There is a bare sentence for everything. There are references to split votes, with an option for "Yes" and "No". If there was a split vote, there is an opportunity to include the relevant ratio. There are other sections that include "Discussion" and "Refusal for oral hearing". There is nothing else. The website does not state why there was a refusal for an oral hearing. I ask Mr. Walsh not to clap himself on the back. He has a body of work to do and he would want to start doing it because as far as I am concerned, there is no trust and confidence in An Bord Pleanála. There is absolutely none. There is nothing transparent about what the board is doing, I am afraid to say.

I have a question for Mr. Walsh. At his most recent appearance before the committee, he conceded there were no such thing as minimum density developments in legislation. Is that correct?