John Brassil (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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180. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government his plans to remove the power of An Bord Pleanála to disregard local county development plans when the local county development plan has been written and is keeping in line with national planning guidelines when making its decisions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3550/18]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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In cases on appeal, where a planning authority has refused to grant permission for a proposed development because it would contravene materially the local development plan, and in certain cases where planning applications are made directly to An Bord Pleanála (the Board), the Board may, under the provisions of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended (the Planning Act), grant planning permission for proposed development that materially contravenes the development plan in specified circumstances only. In this scenario, the Board is required to indicate in its decision its main reasons for doing so.

In this regard, it should be noted that, in making determinations on planning appeals or applications, the Board is required to have regard to not only the local development plan, but also to planning guidelines issued by the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, as well as to other relevant Government policies. Development plans are generally drafted and adopted in accordance with national policies and planning guidelines which are current at the time of their adoption. However, there can be instances where new Government policies are adopted after the adoption of a development plan, thereby superseding specific local policies in the development plan, and which consequently the Board is required to have regard to in the determination of planning appeals or applications before it. This can result in the Board attaching greater significance to new and updated Government policy than to a development plan objective that may have been adopted a number of years ago, thereby resulting in the contravening of the development plan in making its determination on a planning appeal or an application by the Board.

In the circumstances, I have no proposals to amend the existing relevant provisions of the Planning Act.