Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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138. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government if, when an inspector from An Bord Pleanála visits a site and makes a recommendation to grant an application, the reason this decision is, in many cases, overruled and refused by other members of the board who have not visited the site and could not have any proper understanding of the position; if he will investigate the situation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29121/16]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Since the establishment of An Bord Pleanála in 1977, planning legislation has clearly assigned final responsibility for decisions on planning appeals to the Board and not to inspectors making reports and recommendations to the Board. The Board’s Annual Report for 2015 states that the number of all Inspectors’ recommendations not generally accepted by the Board was 204 (12.7%) in 2015, compared to 229 (15.4%) in 2014.

In considering decisions on planning appeals, the Board must consider all submissions on the file, together with their own Inspector’s report and recommendation, and reach their own conclusion on the matter in line with the proper planning and sustainable development of the area. If they do not follow the recommendations of the Inspector, the Board must be satisfied that the facts of the case support their decision. Under the Planning and Development Act 2000 (as amended), the Board must also give the reasons for their decisions and must specify the various reasons for not accepting the Inspector’s recommendations.

The Board operates these provisions with appropriate transparency, for example, through the publication of Inspectors’ reports and Board decisions on its website and the publication of well-documented Annual Reports.

Under section 30 of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, I am specifically precluded from exercising any power or control in relation to any particular case with which a planning authority or An Bord Pleanála is or may be concerned, other than in particular circumstances that do not apply in the type of case referred to by the Deputy.