Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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I welcome and thank the Minister of State, Deputy Malcolm Noonan, for coming to the House.

Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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I thank the Cathaoirleach for selecting this Commencement matter and the Minister of State for coming to the House to deal with it. The matter relates to the Government's plans for making new temporary appointments to the board of An Bord Pleanála. I hope the Minister of State will outline what those plans are and make a statement on them.

None of us needs a lesson on An Bord Pleanála and the lack of confidence in the board among many members of the public. I acknowledge, as I have done all along, that there is a place for An Bord Pleanála. It needs to be restructured and reconstituted, and needs greater focus and clarity. Above all, it needs to communicate its decisions in a timely manner and to explain in greater detail decisions to overturn its inspectors' decisions or recommendations. This is presenting difficulties for members of the public who do not quite understand the dynamic between the inspectors and the board itself. It creates a feeling that there is a tension there and they cannot understand it. There has to be such a tension and I accept that the board has to take decisions.

I do not subscribe to the idea of scrapping An Bord Pleanála. I support its work and acknowledge there are great people in it doing their best. There are, however, challenges and difficulties. I hope An Bord Pleanála can bounce back and build a strong, confident relationship with the people it represents and rebuild the professionalism it has shown in the past in the area of planning and determining planning appeals.

I understand from media reports that the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage will appoint temporary members to fill a number of vacancies on the board. I also understand the board needs its full complement of board members because while there are ongoing investigations, the board still has to do its work. The chairman needs to have a full board and its members need to work together constructively. I understand there are only six board members still in place in the crisis-hit planning authority. As I said, An Bord Pleanála is the subject of ongoing investigation and it would not be appropriate for the Minister of State or me to comment on the series of investigations. Clearly, there will be structural reform. We need a full complement of board members and we need to rebuild confidence in it.

I am conscious that there needs to be greater clarity about the Minister's intentions. Will all the new board members be ministerial appointees? Will the Minister seek public servants to fill the temporary positions? What is temporary? I presume it is for a period of up to 12 months because that is the time it will take to put in place the new structures. Is the Minister of State in a position to indicate whether these or future appointments will be filled by the Public Appointments Service? That is an open and transparent way to do this and it is particularly important. I accept that there is chronic understaffing and there are rushed decisions and that the board is not always in a position to determine decisions within the specified timeframe, which is an issue. In essence, I am asking what the Minister's short-term plans are for filling the current vacancies on the board and what his long-term plans are for bringing in people to serve on the board.

I will finish on this point. There is a case for allowing the representative bodies, the Local Authority Members Association, LAMA, and the Association of Irish Local Government, AILG, not necessarily to nominate members to the board but to nominate persons who could be considered by an independent appointments commission. There is a way to move away from having ministerial appointments to the board. While the Minister could make recommendations and put forward names, ultimately there has to be an independent system for making appointments to the new board.

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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I thank Senator Boyhan for his comments on the necessity of An Bord Pleanála. He and I interact regularly on the issue of public participation in our planning system. He feels it is vitally important that we have a robust planning system in which members of the public can have confidence and in which they have a right to participate on the basis of parity. I commend the Senator on that. On 4 October, following Government approval, the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, published an action plan for An Bord Pleanála which was informed by phase 1 of the review by the Office of the Planning Regulator of certain systems and procedures used by An Bord Pleanála. The action plan outlines several measures relating to the board appointment process, structure, capacity and operations within An Bord Pleanála. Its intention is to underpin public confidence in the efficacy and ability of An Bord Pleanála to decide cases in a timely manner while supporting the values of independence, impartiality and integrity. A number of the proposed actions contained in the action plan require legislative underpinning. Some of these will be pursued as part of the review of the planning legislation currently being led by the Attorney General but other measures including a new regime of recruitment for appointments to An Bord Pleanála require more immediate legislative underpinning and will be addressed in the planning, development and foreshore (amendment) Bill 2022, the general scheme of which will be published shortly.

The Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, currently provides for the board of An Bord Pleanála to consist of a chairperson appointed by the Government and nine ordinary members appointed by the Minister. Action 10 of the action plan specifically relates to the new regime of recruitment for board appointments to An Bord Pleanála. The aforementioned legislation which received Government approval for priority drafting on 4 October 2022 will remove the nominating bodies system for board appointments to An Bord Pleanála and replace it with an open competition process to recruit suitably qualified candidates with the necessary range of skill sets to serve on the board. As an interim measure, the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, is also advancing the recruitment of a board member with environmental expertise, particularly in relation to marine matters under section 106(1)(e) of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, in a manner similar to the proposed new arrangements outlined in the action plan. In addition, a number of temporary appointments will be made in line with the provisions of the current Act. Under the new board, members are recruited under the new arrangements.

As detailed in action 13 of the action plan, it is the intention that board membership should be increased as part of the new, more immediate legislation to allow for new functions and sufficient rotation of members across different classes of files.

The Senator put forward a proposal about LAMA and the AILG. As the Minister outlines it is an open process and it is important to have that environmental, ecological and water expertise in An Bord Pleanála. Given the broad range of legislation and the broad range of environmental climate considerations that now have to be taken into account, it is a vitally important part of it, but the Minister is committed to ensuring An Bord Pleanála is fit for purpose and is able to serve the planning interests of the country well and serve the broader community and the ambitions of the State in respect of proper spatial planning. That is something we all want to achieve.

Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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The Minister of State is absolutely correct as regards maritime issues. We have seen maritime legislation and the Maritime Area Regulatory Authority, MARA, and all of the bits of legislation around that. That is an important complement to any new board. The heavy emphasis on environmental issues is important because many of those subsequently become challenges and are referred for judicial review. Planning should not be determined by judicial review. I understand why it goes down that road, but we need a better, more robust system. I fully acknowledge the importance of maritime and environmental expertise on the board but it is important that local government can contribute in some way. It does not necessarily have to have the final say but that it can contribute. I would like to think this new legislation will not exclude former city or county councillors. They bring a certain amount of expertise. That is something we can tease out in the legislation. I thank the Minister of State for his comprehensive report.

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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I thank the Senator for his positive contribution and that is certainly something I can take to the Minister. We have to hugely value the role of any expertise many former elected members have brought to local government over many years. They have expertise in formulating development plans and setting the agenda at local level for how our communities are planned. While An Bord Pleanála has been through an incredibly challenging time, we see the positive outcomes of this report and the intent of the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, to address this issue and deal with it. He has acted swiftly and decisively. We need a board that is fit for purpose, able to meet the broader environmental climate challenges but can also plan this country in a sustainable way that is future-proofed for future generations.