Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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265. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the estimated cost of increasing planning staff in local authorities and An Bord Pleanála by 400 net, in tabular form. [40271/24]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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A total in excess of €279m is being provided in 2025 for my Department’s planning programme, of which €63 million relates to current services and €216 million for capital expenditure. This current allocation allows for investment in the resourcing of the planning system, including staffing levels for An Bord Pleanála, as well as enhancing sanctioned staffing levels for local authorities. This is crucial in anticipation of the impending introduction of the landmark Planning and Development Bill 2023 which will significantly reform planning in this country for the better.

My Department is currently working on a number of measures to increase staffing levels in the local government planning sector. The Local Government Management Agency (LGMA) submitted a report entitled Business Case for Resources for the Planning Function of Local Authorities in 2022 . Further to the submission of the report, the Department is working in conjunction with the LGMA on a programme of support to provide planning authorities, on a phased basis, with the requisite level of staffing resources and expertise to efficiently and effectively perform their planning functions.

In this regard, my Department wrote to planning authorities in October 2023 conveying approval to the filling of an initial 100 posts, subsequently increased to 101 posts, in the local authority planning service under the first tranche of the program. The estimated cost of the 101 positions in the first tranche, calculated at the mid-point of the respective pay scales of the grades concerned, was €7 million. Engagement is ongoing with the local government sector on the scope of further tranches.

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.

Since October 2021, my Department has agreed to 117 new staffing posts in An Bord Pleanála to provide for the efficient processing of cases before the Board. It is intended that when all the approved posts are filled, over 300 people will be employed by the Board. In order to be of assistance, the Board has provided the below information which details the current sanctioned planning staffing levels which currently stands at 115, and the costs associated with doubling this contingent to 230 posts.