Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 13 May 2021
Public Accounts Committee
2019 Financial Statements of An Bord Pleanála
9:30 am
Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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I welcome Mr. Walsh, Mr. Egan and Ms Killian and thank them for coming before the committee and for the very detailed statement. As Mr. Walsh noted, we are very tight for time. The questions I may ask will be binary and probably will require "Yes" and "No" answers, in the interest of time.
I looked through the part of the annual report referring to strategic housing developments with an architect yesterday. Of the 4,334 houses encompassed in the residential unit delivery of 16,600, about 1,200 were semi-detached houses, possibly with a garden. The rest were terraced housing, just over 3,200. The densities being applied are resulting in family-unfriendly homes. As for the section on legal proceedings, I was in business for 30-odd years and when looking at overall costs, one looks at the highest costs to see what can be done about them. I was pretty overwhelmed when I saw the figure for legal fees of almost €3.5 million. It is extraordinary. It accounts for 17% of the contribution from the Exchequer of just over €18 million. It is the biggest expense after salaries. I also note that €1.78 million of that was paid out in third-party settlements. I find that unbelievable. Would Mr. Walsh accept that clearly, there is something terribly wrong with that?