Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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I welcome Dr. Kelly and her team. I am familiar with the board's work. I have been engaged in planning appeals from time to time and, in fairness, I have been fairly happy with the outcomes.

I want to go through the two documents that were presented to us, namely, Dr. Kelly's opening statement on behalf of the board and her PowerPoint presentation which I took the time to look at in advance of attending the meeting.

Our Library and Research Service had all the back issues of An Bord Pleanála's annual report but the people there said they had not received a hard copy for the past three years. I accept the world has moved on, and Dr. Kelly spoke of IT and paper. If Dr. Kelly has a few spare hard copies for the Library here, three or four Members were looking for them yesterday. Clearly, they wanted to see them. Someone sent me a copy today. I am one of these hard copy Members. I recognise Dr. Kelly's comments in this regard but she might consider that.

I have looked at An Bord Pleanála's accounts. They are always well presented and I am not going to get into that too much.

I am more concerned about the action plan for housing and homelessness. We cannot presume that this legislation will all go through. There is a summary proposal for legislation and a scheme has been published. It may vary. There are mixed messages coming from different political quarters.

An Bord Pleanála's website states that the planning process provides a comprehensive appeals process and yet we have heard Dr. Kelly say there would be no appeals on a number of matters, which greatly concerns me. I am very conscious of the role of local government practitioners and local authority members in empowering and engaging citizens. That is why there is such great activity in the planning process. That is a weakness, but it is not An Bord Pleanála's fault. It is political.

I seek clarification on some of Dr. Kelly's comments. The presentation refers to a general scheme of a Bill as published which includes provisions for the direct application of An Bord Pleanála. There is reference to the time constraint. Dr. Kelly said she was confident about having resources. How confident is she? What is the commitment on resources?

In winding up, Dr. Kelly spoke about An Bord Pleanála's ambitious IT project, which is great. Until that is operational, however, it is not acceptable that citizens have to travel on a bus or train from west County Cork to Marlborough Street to look at hard copy files. It is not a problem for me because I live in Dún Laoghaire, but other people have to travel to the board's offices. An Bord Pleanála should have these files online where people can view them and consider them. Dr. Kelly spoke about the Aarhus Convention and she clearly knows that it provides for a citizen to be allowed engage in a process. People will be denied engagement in a process until An Bord Pleanála has its IT and digital hub operational. That is a real weakness. I want to be helpful. Perhaps Dr. Kelly could highlight this genuine concern to the Minister and ask for resources to do that.

Dr. Kelly spoke about being fair and getting third party appeals, which echoes what I am saying. An Bord Pleanála will not get third party appeals on the housing scheme. How does Dr. Kelly square that with fairness and equal access to the planning process? She has confirmed that there will not be a third party appeals process, something I knew. We need that.

Dr. Kelly spoke about the funding. Let us hear about that. We know An Bord Pleanála is missing deadlines for critical infrastructure. In one case which is dear to my heart - I will not mention it here - the board has missed three deadlines. Despite people attending a board oral hearing a year ago, we have heard that only in September of this year did the report from the An Bord Pleanála inspector go to its board. That needs to be explained.

Dr. Kelly also needs to explain why her inspectors are being overruled by her board. There have been very complex and detailed submissions by very competent and able inspectors, and yet Dr. Kelly's board has overridden their decisions. That has not been adequately explained to the public. I have been involved in some of these and I cannot understand the rationale of a board of people. An Bord Pleanála needs to open up. Transparency was one of Dr. Kelly's key words. If the board is overriding its very able and competent inspectors, Dr. Kelly needs to explain that fully to the public to instil confidence.

I understand there is to be a scaling back of oral hearings. Currently, people can appeal to the board. Ultimately, it is the prerogative of the board, it can decide, that is the scheme, which is fair enough, and I do not have a difficulty with that. There is some suggestion, however, that oral hearings would be used very sparingly. There is an issue there and I would like Dr. Kelly to clarify it.

Dr. Kelly spoke about the 18-week period and efficiencies. An Bord Pleanála is not meeting its 18-week target. As it stands, the board is taking on additional work and I presume, therefore, it will have additional staff. Will some planners be seconded to the board from local authorities, as has been suggested to me? I would be opposed to that, as is the Irish Planning Institute.

On this issue of IT, I commend the former Minister, Deputy Kelly, who commissioned this report which made recommendations. An Bord Pleanála is to agree a strategy and this committee should be kept informed on that. I fully acknowledge the independence, impartiality, expertise and professionalism of the board, which is exceptional. However, An Bord Pleanála's communication of its decisions is weak.

On the IT platform, I want the board to consider this. The members do not necessarily have to respond today. In terms of exercising democracy, the planning process provides for a comprehensive appeals process. However, people cannot even make an intervention if they have no access to the material, the drawings and other information. We see a deficit in some local authorities that do not even have colour copiers and colour printers for maps and graphs. Until An Bord Pleanála's IT system is operational and available to everybody, including every planning authority, the board is not in a position to proceed with having some kind of fast-tracked centralised planning system in Marlborough Street.

I thank the witnesses for coming in. I am greatly interested in their work. This is a weakness and it should be highlighted to the Minister. More important, Dr. Kelly has said she is confident she will get the necessary resources. I ask her to outline to us the commitments she has. It is also our job to impress on the Minister to resource An Bord Pleanála fully.