James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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838. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government what percentage of An Bord Pleanála cases are successfully defended; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37487/23]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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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, as amended, and certain other Acts.

Under section 30 of the Planning and Development Act, 2000, as amended, I as Minister am specifically precluded from exercising power or control in relation to any particular case with which a planning authority or the Board is or may be concerned.

My Department does not hold the specific information requested. 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 in this regard is Oireachtasqueries@pleanala.ie.

In order to be of assistance, my Department obtained the information requested from the Board who have provided the following information.

The Board have advised that a large proportion of the increasing caseload of judicial reviews relate to decisions concerning complex matters of procedure and interpretation relating to the EU environmental directives and procedures to do with handling of Strategic Housing Development applications.

It is accepted by the Board that recent judicial review outcomes have seen a greater number of such cases conceded or lost and this is an outcome of the increasing complexity of those European law issues and novel issues relating to the new strategic housing process. A breakdown of legal cases received since 2017 is listed below.