Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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483. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government his views on whether it is acceptable the inordinate amount of time it is taking An Bord Pleanála to make decisions on planning applications which have been appealed to An Bord Pleanála; if he will acknowledge the detrimental effect that these delays are having on people and in particular people who want to expand their business; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13504/23]

Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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An Bord Pleanála (the Board) is the national independent statutory body with responsibility for the determination of planning appeals and direct applications for strategic infrastructure and other developments under the Planning and Development Act 2000 (the Act), as amended, and certain other Acts.

Section 126 of the Act provides that it shall be the duty and objective of the Board to decide appeals as expeditiously as may be and, for that purpose, to take all such steps as are open to it to ensure that, insofar as is practicable, there are no avoidable delays at any stage in the determination of appeals.

Section 126 also provides that it shall be an objective of the Board to ensure that every appeal is determined within 18 weeks beginning on the date of receipt of an appeal. Where it is not possible or appropriate, because of the particular circumstances of an appeal, to determine an appeal within the 18 week period the Board is required to notify the participants in the appeal before the expiration of that period giving the reason for not meeting the objective target and specifying a date before which the Board intends to determine the appeal. Where any case has exceeded the statutory objective period then the Board will have written to the parties involved as per these statutory requirements. In circumstances where any new date is not met it is the practice of the Board to also notify the parties of that and the reason for the further delay.

It is important to acknowledge that a certain percentage of cases, due to particular circumstances, such as complexity, requests for further information from applicants for permission or further submissions from other participants including third parties, will not meet the 18 week target.

“Housing for All – A New Housing Plan for Ireland” sets out a number of objectives with the aim of improving the functioning of the planning system including the comprehensive review and consolidation of planning legislation. This review, which was led by the Attorney General, contained a number of key proposals in relation to An Bord Pleanála. In this regard, the new draft Planning and Development Bill was agreed by Government on 13 December 2022 and was published on the Departments website on the 26 January 2023. The draft Bill has recently undergone pre-legislative scrutiny by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing.

The draft Bill provides for the introduction of statutory mandatory timelines for all consent processes, including appeals and consent applications made to An Bord Pleanála. It is intended that the timelines for the Board will be introduced on a phased basis, starting with those for Strategic Infrastructure Developments (including energy projects).

While the main legislative provisions relating to An Bord Pleanála are being dealt with as part of the draft Planning and Development Bill, the Planning and Development and Foreshore (Amendment) Act 2022, which was signed into law in December 2022, addressed certain initial matters which required immediate action on foot of the Action Plan for An Bord Pleanála, Phase 1 of the Office of the Planning Regulator Review of An Bord Pleanála and other matters relating to addressing board vacancies and the board’s case load in light of its new marine functions, including:

- Providing for a suitable, independent, objective and transparent procedure by which recommendations may be made to the Minister in relation to the recruitment and appointment of ordinary members of the Board through an open competitive process,

- Increasing the limit on the overall number of ordinary members of the Board, so as to ensure that the increasing caseload can be managed, and the appropriate quorums and suitable allocation of casefiles can be assured, and

- Expanding the provision to appoint temporary ordinary board members to allow for the appointment of serving or former civil servants, public servants, or employees of the Board for a term of up to a year.

Arrangements are being put in place for the new Board member appointment process, and in the interim temporary board members are being assigned. Since early January I have appointed five temporary ordinary board members to the Board of An Bord Pleanála, bringing its current membership to 9 (as at 20th March 2023), and further temporary appointments are expected in the near future. In addition, a full term Board appointment will be made shortly following a recent competition managed by the Public Appointments Service (PAS) to recruit an ordinary board member with marine and environment experience.

In November 2022, following an updated assessment by the Board of resourcing issues likely to emerge as a result of planning applications for the National Development Plan and other infrastructure projects, the Boards new marine functions, as well as a number of senior positions approved under the Action Plan for An Bord Pleanála, and in accordance with the 2022-2023 Workforce Plan, the Board sought sanction for 34 additional posts. My Department provided sanction for these additional 34 posts in December 2022 and An Bord Pleanála is in the process of filling these positions.

The Board have received an exchequer allocation of €26.9 million for 2023, which is an increase of €4.7million on the 2022 allocation.