Mr. Dave Walsh:

I thank the Chairman for the opportunity to appear before the committee to assist in the examination of An Bord Pleanála's financial statements for 2019 and to discuss the board's important work and its recent progress in delivering on our statutory mandate.

As the Chairman noted, I am joined by Mr. Gerard Egan, head of corporate affairs, and Ms Anne Killian, head of finance. We will endeavour to address all queries as best we can. With the indulgence of the committee, I may ask my colleagues to come in on some more technical matters as they are more familiar and have the detailed information to hand.

As the Chairman outlined, it is important to remind the committee that it is not appropriate to discuss individual planning cases, as to do so could compromise decisions and various judicial review cases before the courts. However, where we can discuss generalities of case types and broad issues emerging, we will aim to be as helpful as we can to the committee.

The board is well aware of its critical role in the planning system in considering, and determining, appeals and major housing and infrastructure proposals. We remain committed to delivering robust decisions as quickly and effectively as possible. We are also cognisant of our corporate governance responsibilities. I can confirm that the board considers itself in full compliance with all applicable provisions of the code of practice for the governance of State bodies.

We have developed and use a framework of assurances, including an audit and risk committee and internal audits, as well as undertaking regular updates at management committee and board levels of our risk and mitigation actions. As is required under the code of practice, I receive a report annually from the independent external chair of the audit and risk committee and the committee's most recent report has confirmed that our risk management processes and internal controls are operating effectively. As chairperson, I am also reassured of our financial and governance controls through the unqualified audit opinion of the Comptroller and Auditor General both for 2019 and for all previously audited years.

The committee will have noted from our annual accounts that in financial terms, the board had a total income of over €25 million in 2019, comprised, as Mr. McCarthy has said, of an Exchequer grant of €18.6 million and - there is a correction there - of fee revenue of just under €6.4 million. This represents an increase from 2018, when we received €17.5 million in Exchequer grants and took in just over €3 million in fee revenue.

To give a little background on the organisation, the board currently has 175.3 whole-time equivalent staff and nine board members. The Minister and the Department have been very supportive in approving recent resource requests in recognition of the increasing demands and complexity of the cases coming before the board, including in relation to strategic housing developments and major infrastructure projects. The board is currently engaging with the Department on an updated workforce plan for 2021-22 to meet its evolving needs and work demands.

The board's primary role is to make planning decisions in a timely and efficient manner in accordance with the legislative framework under which we operate and having regard to the overarching planning policy framework as determined by the Government and the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage. While I appreciate that we are discussing the 2019 annual report and accounts, I would like to give the committee a more up-to-date picture of our casework levels using 2020 statistics.

The year 2020 was very challenging for the board, as it was for many organisations and for society generally, with major disruptions to normal life and work practices due to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, despite these disruptions, the board was able to remain open for business throughout the various lockdowns with planning designated as an essential service by the Government.

Moreover, with the co-operation and goodwill of board members, staff and the various active participants in the planning system, including the public, we were able to keep our public office open in a safe manner and were able to maintain a fairly high level of case output. We adapted our practices to enable some online services and virtual meetings, including the holding of remote oral hearings, and facilitated hybrid office-home working patterns for all staff to ensure that we fully adhered to all health and safety requirements to protect everyone.

While the total number of cases received and decided were down slightly on the 2019 totals, due in part to the eight-week planning timeline extensions in April and May, 76% of all planning appeal cases were decided within the statutory objective period, SOP. This is a significant achievement, considering the overall challenging operational environment in which the staff and board members were working, and represents a further improvement on the comparable 2019 figure of 69%, and well ahead of the 43% compliance rate recorded back in 2018.

Looking back on 2020, with nine of its months significantly impacted by Covid-19 related restrictions, and many of these effects continuing well into 2021, I am hugely proud of the commitment, resilience and efforts by our entire board and staff in keeping the show on the road through progressing and deciding cases. The challenge is now to maintain this level of compliance amidst the ongoing disruptions due to Covid restrictions, to further streamline our systems, as well as to adapt to more flexible working patterns and practices. Thus far this year, case activity in the first three months of 2021 has been fairly busy, with 781 new application and appeal cases lodged and 631 cases disposed, which suggests a similar caseload over the course of this year, as the economy recovers following the Covid-19 pandemic.

In relation to strategic housing developments, SHDs, the board has continued to prioritise these and we decided 126 such applications during 2020, all within the statutory timelines. Of these cases, 98 decisions were to grant permission, facilitating more than 25,400 residential units, three quarters of which were for apartments, as well as 2,300 student bed spaces and some 570 shared accommodation bed spaces. It is also important to note that the board refused 28 of the applications decided last year, evidence that the board continues to assess all applications against the principles of proper planning and sustainable development and refuses those that fail these criteria. The increasing numbers of pre-application consultations would suggest that 2021 will see a further increase in SHD applications between now and when the legislative scheme expires early next year.

Similarly, building on the 24 strategic infrastructure applications received in 2020 and the 19 cases decided, the trend in pre-applications in 2020 and so far this year would indicate more infrastructural projects being lodged with us in the near future.

Amidst all the Covid-related disruptions, the board was able to progress our major IT transformational project, Plean-IT, with the establishment of an in-house development team to drive forward further enhancements and functionality within the system. While the ultimate aim is to facilitate the online submission of applications and appeals, aligned with the planning authorities’ e-planning initiative, we were able to advance a number of important developments during 2020 and into 2021, such as the launch last November of our online facility enabling observations on strategic housing development applications and the design of a more user-friendly and informative website designed to make it easier for everyone to find the information that they are looking for and to provide useful guidance on how to lodge or comment on an strategic development application or planning appeals. The new website was launched last month and the board is pleased with the largely positive feedback in this initial phase. We expect further phased roll-out of online services this year and into 2022.

I am conscious that I am taking up members’ valuable time to raise specific issues so I will leave it there. We have provided some statistics and charts in the appendix to the opening statement and I am happy to take any questions.