Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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329. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the percentage of appeals relating to non-residential properties in the past two years by province in which a decision of grant by the local authority was changed to a refusal, a decision of refusal was changed to grant and in which the decision stayed the same, respectively; his plans to change the law relating to the operation of An Bord Pleanála based on the evidence of these statistics; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42794/19]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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Since the establishment of An Bord Pleanála (the Board) in 1977, planning legislation has clearly assigned final responsibility for decisions on planning appeals to the Board. The Board can decide to confirm, vary or reverse the planning authority’s decision.

The specific information requested is not available. However, the Board provides information in its Annual Reports on the number of planning authority decisions (both granted and refused) across all development categories which, when appealed, were either confirmed, varied or reversed. There is no specific break down available, for non-residential properties or otherwise,  outlining where a decision to grant by a planning authority was changed to a refusal, or where a decision to refuse was changed to a grant. In 2017, the Board confirmed the decision of the planning authority in 22% of appeals received. In 2018, this figure rose slightly to 24%.  

The information in this regard for 2019 is not yet available; this will be included in the Board's 2019 Annual Report. The information and other related statistics in respect of previous years are publicly available in the Board's Annual Reports which can be accessed at the following link: .

Arrangements have been put in place by all bodies under the aegis of my Department to facilitate the provision of information directly to members of the Oireachtas. This provides a speedy, efficient and cost effective system to address queries directly to the relevant bodies. The contact email address for An Bord Pleanála is Oireachtasqueries@pleanala.ie.

I have no plans to amend the legislation regarding the operation of An Bord Pleanála at this time.