An Bord Pleanála is in the midst of the biggest crisis in its history. Its independence, professionalism and integrity are all in question. Allegations concerning serious conflicts of interest on the part of the deputy chair of the board, Paul Hyde, were first published in The Ditch on 13 April. On Friday, Mr. Hyde admitted overseeing a planning appeal from his sister-in-law, claiming it was inadvertent. He stepped aside on Monday pending investigations. Yesterday, the Taoiseach told the Dáil that Mr. Hyde no longer has access to documentation or the electronic system since he stepped aside. Are we to understand that he retained that access up until then? It does not exactly scream "best practice". Best practice is not a phrase regularly associated with An Bord Pleanála these days. In 2020, it spent a whopping €8 million, which is a quarter of its €31 million annual budget, on legal fees. This is perhaps unsurprising given that the High Court is the only forum to appeal strategic housing development, SHD, decisions which bypass local planning authorities and go straight to An Bord Pleanála.

How is An Bord Pleanála faring in these cases? It does not appear to be faring very well. Of the 40 SHD judicial reviews decided so far, An Bord Pleanála has successfully defended just three. Any planning authority spending 25% of its budget defending its decisions in court and losing a majority of them has a serious credibility issue. Legal fees may be soaring but housing supply is not. Of the approximately 70,000 SHD units permitted to date, commencement notices have been submitted on just 13,000. The planning system may be fast-tracked but the permissions, once granted, are not. Is it any wonder when there is no real penalty for not doing so?

Meanwhile, 82% of all new residential schemes either applied for or granted in Dublin city in 2020 were build to rent. This is a disaster for Dublin, which is a conclusion that everyone in Dublin City Council seems to agree on, both councillors and officials. Somehow, the Taoiseach does not. He thinks any supply is good supply, even very low-quality, unaffordable build-to-rent development which is cannibalising residential supply in Dublin. What is the Government's answer to sluggish build to supply? It is to gift developers €144,000 per apartment without asking for anything to be taken off the sale price. I could not believe this when I read it. I just did not think it was real.

Who made the decision to leave Mr. Hyde in situ for two weeks despite the Minister ordering a senior counsel to investigate those allegations and An Bord Pleanála ordering a mammoth audit of its work? When can we expect to see the terms of reference for the Remy Farrell investigation? Will they be extended to other board members and will the investigation look at the members' interests?

There are a number of questions there. I take it it is the Bord Pleanála issue because I could deal at length with the housing issue. As I said yesterday, and I thank Deputy Murphy for raising the issue, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, is aware of the allegations that have been made. He understands those allegations are currently being denied by the board member concerned. A senior counsel has been appointed by the Minister to provide a report in consideration of this and those terms of reference and timelines are currently being finalised.

As I said yesterday, separate from the allegations that have been made, the Minister has also been made aware of correspondence between the deputy chairperson of An Bord Pleanála, Mr. Paul Hyde, and the board's secretary, which was brought to his Department's attention by the chairperson of An Bord Pleanála. This concerned a conflict of interest disclosed by Mr. Hyde on 3 May 2022 in relation to a May 2021 board decision. Mr. Hyde states in his correspondence that he only became aware of this conflict of interest on 28 April 2022. The Minister then requested a report from the chairperson of An Bord Pleanála when he became aware of this matter on 6 May 2022. The chairperson responded to the Minister on 9 May 2022 that Mr. Hyde has agreed to absent himself from his duties as deputy chairperson for the time being, on a strictly without prejudice basis, pending completion of the chairperson's analysis of the matters raised. I then said that in this context Mr. Hyde will not be in attendance at the offices of An Bord Pleanála, have access to the electronic systems or documentation of An Bord Pleanála, and his case files have been reassigned to ensure the efficient discharge of the functions of the board.

The Office of the Planning Regulator, OPR, has independently written to the chairperson of An Bord Pleanála requesting him to outline the systems and procedures that An Bord Pleanála has in place to ensure effective compliance with statutory duties provided for in the planning Acts regarding the declaration of interests and any other information he considers relevant. I understand An Bord Pleanála has responded to this request, and the Planning Regulator is considering the response.

An Bord Pleanála is independent in its performance of its functions under the planning Act. Pending the outcome of these considerations, it is important that we allow for the completion of the reports to make more informed comments in the aftermath. Needless to say, all board members are required to make a declaration of certain interests under section 147 at least once a year, and the register of interests is available for public inspection. Under section 148, where a member of the board has a pecuniary or other beneficial interest in, or that is material to, any appeal, contribution, question, determination or dispute that falls to be decided or determined by the board under any enactment, he or she shall disclose to the board the nature of his or her interest and shall take no part in the discussion, consideration or decision-making in regard to the matter. There have been amendments to the legislation. To ensure the improvement of legal capacity within An Bord Pleanála, additional resources have been provided by the Minister. We are not satisfied with the level of litigation in the first instance, nor are we satisfied with its outcomes.

This is a very serious matter concerning An Bord Pleanála, not least because it ceased to be the planning appeals board regarding SHDs. It became the decision-maker on housing applications of 100 units or more, bypassing local authority development plans, in respect of which there is a statutory function and one in which the public is engaged. There is a serious loss of confidence in An Bord Pleanála. Confidence in its integrity and professionalism has been completely undermined. Will the terms of reference be wide enough to include other personnel if anything is identified? Will members’ interests be reviewed in the context of the terms of reference? When will we see them? What is the timeline for dealing with the matter? It was not An Bord Pleanála that sought to deliver on the SHDs; the function was given to it. Therefore, there is a responsibility on the Government to ensure the integrity of An Bord Pleanála is not undermined. There has been a really serious undermining of our planning system.

The Minister has acted quickly and promptly on this and has appointed a senior counsel to provide a report on the specific issue. The terms of reference are currently being finalised. I assure the Deputy there will not be any undue delay in respect of that because the independence of An Bord Pleanála, as defined in the Planning and Development Act, is important in itself. Also, it has to be beyond any perception of potential inappropriate behaviour or a failure to disclose. I am not making any judgments on this. I want to stress that because what I am saying is without prejudice to the production of the report itself. We have to be fair with regard to that aspect.

From my understanding, the senior counsel will be focusing on this, but I will revert to the Deputy on it. As soon as the terms of reference are finalised, they will be published. Thereafter, there will be a report. I am sure the Minister will continue to give this serious consideration.