Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I echo some of the concerns of the two previous speakers. Do I need a lesson in short notice for meetings, and virtual ones at that? That is a question for another day. I sit on three audit committees, one of which is the Oireachtas audit committee. It deals with audits relating to Oireachtas Members, their pay, security and a whole range of other issues but I am sure Members would be appalled if they thought the audit committee could discuss the Minister of State and his pay, for example, at a virtual meeting. It would not be right or proper. I have resisted virtual meetings in all areas of my life. I do not know how Fine Gael operated during Covid-19 in terms of virtual meetings but I accept that the Covid period was exceptional.

Serious allegations of corruption and collusion have been made against the board of An Bord Pleanála. I am aware of the rumours and the media coverage of the issues and I look forward to the speedy presentation of the report to these Houses for debate. We can talk all we want about cleaning up the board's act but if we do not hang, draw and quarter some of the people involved, we are not going to be effective. That is what the public expects and wants, and it is something I would support. We need to clearly hear what was going on and what happens next. People going off into the sunset, taking pensions, going on holidays, taking sick or extended leave and running from interrogation, examination, transparency and accountability is simply not good enough. That said, there are processes in place which I respect and I am not going to go into any more detail on this now. I assure the House, however, that I will be standing up in this Chamber in a few months asking for the reports to be made public and I will not accept excuses such as that the reports are sub judice or that there are issues around privacy and confidentiality. This is about our public planning system, taxpayers' money, and accountability and transparency in our planning processes.

There is a lot of money to be made when one gets a favourable planning decision. If decisions are skewed in one's favour in any walk of life, there is money to be made and that is at the root of some of the problems we have here. Who is to suggest that some prime developer in Dublin does not have access to An Bord Pleanála? Who is to suggest that a new planning authority or body would not facilitate it? Remember, members of An Bord Pleanála came under pressure previously. I am not confident that pressure could not be put on the board by developers or by anybody who wants something that others do not want to give them and that is not good for our planning process.

The commissioners or inspectors will be well paid; indeed, they are well paid now. An Bord Pleanála has headquarters on Marlborough Street and it may have other offices around the country. Members can get up, do a day's work and be accountable. They can don their shirts and suits, go to Marlborough Street and do their job. I do not buy the idea that they can open a laptop on their breakfast counter and semi-engage in the planning process. We must be really careful here. I know we are coming out of Covid but we have learned a lot of lessons about virtual meetings and blended working. The issues being considered are hugely sensitive and so open to influence and pressure.

I want to be clear that the vast majority of people in An Bord Pleanála do a really good job and I do not want people to think otherwise. I believe the organisation should be retained and reformed. I do not believe we need to be playing around with changing the name and so on. An Bord Pleanála has done well and has delivered some really good results. I have taken some appeals to An Bord Pleanála and have been very pleased with the outcome. I have also taken other appeals and not been pleased with the outcome but I recognised that the board was at a remove from the situation and presented a strong rationale for its decisions. That said, it could improve somewhat in terms of presenting its rationale or providing an explanation for some of its decisions. Part of the problem is the fact that the public does not understand the board's decisions, particularly when the board overrules the recommendations of its own inspectors.

To return to the issue of virtual meetings, I am involved in a planning application in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown that has gone on for a number of years. It is a very sizeable and considerable development on a site that is zoned either major town centre or neighbourhood town centre. It has enormous potential. There has been to-ing and fro-ing with An Bord Pleanála. Some months ago there was a limited and virtual oral hearing during which Oireachtas Members, including me, engaged but still there is no decision on what is a very substantial application. One must ask what is going on here. We were told that the hearing would be virtual in order to speed up the whole process. We all went online in the morning and said our piece. The developer came and said his piece, as did the elected members of the council. The planning authority also had some contributions to make and rightly so. The point is that the virtual meeting did not speed anything up. I am very happy to share details of this particular case with anyone who is interested. This is a very significant application but somehow all of the virtual business and the limited, virtual oral hearing came to nothing.