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

I asked the Minister if he is aware of the number of planning permission decisions that are likely to be quashed, whether the board will face further legal action or actions from people who have had planning permissions revoked, and if the Government has confidence in the chairman of the board. On conflicts of interest, there are other people who have had conflicts of interest, including in respect of making decisions very close to where they live when that is supposed to be precluded. Will the Minister address that? Last year, An Bord Pleanála spend 45% of its budget losing or conceding challenges in the High Court. Some of that goes back to the disastrous political decision to turn the planning appeals board into an application process for strategic housing developments, SHDs. That was purely a political decision. It was very predictable at that point that people would revert to the courts because they were not being given the opportunity to appeal. I think it was a desperate decision and I made that point when the decision was being made. I ask the Minister to respond to the questions that I asked.

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