Francis Noel Duffy (Dublin South West, Green Party)
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263. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the timeline for the introduction of the payment of An Bord Pleanála fees online and or the submission of documentation online; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42849/20]

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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An Bord Pleanála has informed my Department that the development and roll-out of the Board’s major IT transformation project - Plean-IT - remains a significant initiative and is moving into its next phase of development, aiming to facilitate applications and appeals to be made online and linking in with the planning authorities’ own e-Planning initiative.

The Board introduced an online facility to accept observations relating to Strategic Housing Applications with the required fee in November this year and that is currently in operation but for those cases only. The Board intends to use its experience with this initial pilot project to inform its development of similar facilities for other case types including planning appeals and it is intended to advance these in 2021. Details of the pilot project arrangements are available on the Board’s website at www.pleanala.ie.

Currently, the submission of documentation must be made by post or can be hand delivered to the offices of An Bord Pleanála. In addition, there are a number of ways in which fees can be paid to An Bord Pleanála. Further information is available via the An Bord Pleanála website: www.pleanala.ie.

The Board is also currently in the process of finalising development of a new upgraded website which will be more user-friendly and informative. The new website is currently scheduled to go live in early 2021. This will further help to improve communications and interaction between An Bord Pleanála and the public.

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.