Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 27 April 2023
Public Accounts Committee
An Bord Pleanála - Financial Statements 2021
9:30 am
Ms Oonagh Buckley:
It is very much a self-declaration procedure. It is very important. The key point is we make sure everybody is aware absolutely of the requirements to declare in those circumstances. In the main, we avoid putting people in the position of having to make individual declarations by making sure they never handle those files so that it never goes near them. We have explicit language in place now as to how people would go about making those declarations and we have clear rules in the draft new incoming code of conduct about the circumstances in which they need to be made. It is really more a matter of strengthening our processes and procedures as to how they go about it. It is still very reliant though on people being honest. It is really more drilling in that is needed to be honest about the fact that if you do this, you present the board with an almost insuperable problem because we will not be able to defend a challenged decision on the grounds of objective bias. If you fail to make that declaration, we have a problem with that decision. It is really reinforcing that message all the time.