Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

An Bord Pleanála is in the midst of the biggest crisis in its history. Its independence, professionalism and integrity are all in question. Allegations concerning serious conflicts of interest on the part of the deputy chair of the board, Paul Hyde, were first published in The Ditch on 13 April. On Friday, Mr. Hyde admitted overseeing a planning appeal from his sister-in-law, claiming it was inadvertent. He stepped aside on Monday pending investigations. Yesterday, the Taoiseach told the Dáil that Mr. Hyde no longer has access to documentation or the electronic system since he stepped aside. Are we to understand that he retained that access up until then? It does not exactly scream "best practice". Best practice is not a phrase regularly associated with An Bord Pleanála these days. In 2020, it spent a whopping €8 million, which is a quarter of its €31 million annual budget, on legal fees. This is perhaps unsurprising given that the High Court is the only forum to appeal strategic housing development, SHD, decisions which bypass local planning authorities and go straight to An Bord Pleanála.

How is An Bord Pleanála faring in these cases? It does not appear to be faring very well. Of the 40 SHD judicial reviews decided so far, An Bord Pleanála has successfully defended just three. Any planning authority spending 25% of its budget defending its decisions in court and losing a majority of them has a serious credibility issue. Legal fees may be soaring but housing supply is not. Of the approximately 70,000 SHD units permitted to date, commencement notices have been submitted on just 13,000. The planning system may be fast-tracked but the permissions, once granted, are not. Is it any wonder when there is no real penalty for not doing so?

Meanwhile, 82% of all new residential schemes either applied for or granted in Dublin city in 2020 were build to rent. This is a disaster for Dublin, which is a conclusion that everyone in Dublin City Council seems to agree on, both councillors and officials. Somehow, the Taoiseach does not. He thinks any supply is good supply, even very low-quality, unaffordable build-to-rent development which is cannibalising residential supply in Dublin. What is the Government's answer to sluggish build to supply? It is to gift developers €144,000 per apartment without asking for anything to be taken off the sale price. I could not believe this when I read it. I just did not think it was real.

Who made the decision to leave Mr. Hyde in situ for two weeks despite the Minister ordering a senior counsel to investigate those allegations and An Bord Pleanála ordering a mammoth audit of its work? When can we expect to see the terms of reference for the Remy Farrell investigation? Will they be extended to other board members and will the investigation look at the members' interests?

See this speech in context