Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 30 June 2016

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government

Estimates for Public Services 2016
Vote 34 - Environment, Community and Local Government (Revised)

9:00 am

Photo of Simon CoveneySimon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I will get the Deputy the breakdown, but the figure is over 100. Obviously, there are the board members, but there is a whole infrastructure around them. A comprehensive review of An Bord Pleanála was finished a few months ago. We have not started implementation or the assessment of it for implementation. That will get under way in the coming months.

On turnaround times, we often hear criticisms of An Bord Pleanála, but we do not often hear the positive side. It is important to say because the statistics will show it that 83% of all cases before An Bord Pleanála are determined within the 18-week statutory period. They often involve one-off houses; therefore, they do not complexity. I remember asking An Bord Pleanála when I met it recently how many applications it had received for developments of more than 200 houses, for example, to get a sense of the level of activity. I think the figure was only about eight; therefore, it is very small. If we are to make an impression on the supply deficit problem, we will need to have many of the bigger developments come through the An Bord Pleanála process. We will need to have a properly resourced system to make decisions quickly.