John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

People need to have confidence in An Bord Pleanála and what has happened in recent months has shaken the confidence not just of the public, but of the people who represent them. I welcome the opportunity for statements on the matter.

The landscape around planning has changed dramatically in the last decade but, as the previous speaker said, it was changed very dramatically by the introduction of and the acquiescence of Government to the strategic housing development process in 2016. For people listening who might be new to it, the strategic housing development process was intended to be a fast-track planning process, possibly well-intentioned, to ensure that new homes - at the time, in my mind, homes equated to houses - would be delivered on sites in a much more efficient manner. The whole idea was that a local authority would essentially be cut out from the process and the application would go directly to An Bord Pleanála, thereby eliminating the input of local people, local communities and their representatives, and also overriding county development plans, local area plans, height prohibitions in particular counties and densities. It drove a coach and four through what had preceded it, all with the intention of delivering more homes on the ground more quickly.

When we eliminate the role and ability of the public to contribute meaningfully to a planning process, they will always find an alternative way. When An Bord Pleanála made decisions, suddenly there were communities taking judicial reviews, a process that had previously been considered to be only for those with deep pockets. Community organisations and residents associations discovered, as one person said to me, that all they need to do is hold ten cake sales and that will finance a judicial review. On top of that, successful judicial reviews do not have to be paid for at all by the individuals, groups or organisations who take them. What has resulted is a situation where what was intended to be a fast-track planning process has become mired, bogged down and tangled up, never mind the controversy piece, with groups who never saw the need to take legal action against decisions by a planning authority now queueing up.

What was very interesting and refreshing was when Mr. Justice Hunt, in the case of an SHD in my own constituency, overrode the unbelievable decisions of the local authority and An Bord Pleanála to say that a development consisting of 400 or 500 units would have little or no impact on local traffic and that no provision had to be made in regard to public transport. I think that has set a very useful precedent that the NTA and South Dublin County Council, in making their planning decisions and in contributing to planning applications by way of commentary, need to take note of. A judge of the High Court said, to the best of my knowledge, that transport and public transport are issues and are grounds for the refusal of a planning application.

That is the background. It means that because An Bord Pleanála became the only port of call for people who wanted to lodge an observation to a planning application, it started to increase the kind of oversight, scrutiny and interest that people took in the decisions of the board whereas, previously, if the local county council had turned down the application, people had often been happy with that. Of course, if they had not objected at council level, they could not object at board level. Sometimes, they appealed to the board and if the board upheld the decision of the council, then the public felt they had had their say - while they may have been very unhappy, dissatisfied and frustrated, they felt they had had their say. There is a real need to restore the efficacy of the planning system in Ireland to ensure people have confidence in it.

An Bord Pleanála was almost seen as a court of independent opinion.

I have become alarmed over a number of years at the lack of transparency we see. I do not have time to say much about the stories that were recounted by a previous speaker, such as that of a local authority approving a planning application, someone appealing it, the inspector at the board approving it, but two or three members of the board then overturning that decision. There is no transparency in such a case as to how that minority of board members came to the decision. Whether the public agrees or not, there is a lot to be said for those decisions not being held in camera, in order that people can see exactly the process that led the board to its decision.

Having been party to oral hearings at An Bord Pleanála, I acknowledge it does incredibly good work, as do its officials. In regard to its oversight of planning appeals taken to it by third parties, I have always found it to be very thorough. However, the events of recent months, in which there have been question marks over a number of board decisions and some of its members, have led to a situation that must be answered. The efficacy and good name of the board must be restored, if they are restorable, in order that the public can have absolute confidence that when people submit a submission on, or objection to, an application, it will be dealt with fairly and transparently, leaving no gaps for confusion or frustration at the end of the process.

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