An Bord Pleanála delays
Deputy Ó Cuív asked for short legislation imposing statutory timelines on appeal decisions, saying delays can exceed two years. The Minister said staffing has been stabilised, backlog work is under way and statutory timeframes already apply in some planning areas.
I know the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage has been working very hard on the whole issue of delays in An Bord Pleanála, including providing extra funding and approval for more staff. The problem is that, despite all of this, appeals are still taking up to two years. The Minister is preparing a major piece of legislation but that will take time to go through the House. Will consideration be given by the Government to introducing a short piece of legislation to put statutory timelines on what is happening? Some of the appeals are taking over two years, which is ridiculous. Will consideration be given to putting some type of timeline in place so appeals are heard in the meantime in an expeditious manner?
Comment on this
Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta as an cheist thábhachtach seo. The Deputy is correct. I met with the interim chairperson of the board, Oonagh Buckley, on a number of occasions. The board now has 15 board members whereas it was as low as five last year and we had to stabilise it as it was in a difficult position. We brought forward the large-scale residential developments Act and there is now no backlog in that space and there are statutory timeframes. I have asked the board to work through the backlog. There are parallel board meetings happening and four board meetings a day are taking place to make decisions on cases. This remains a big issue for many people. The Deputy is correct that we will bring the consolidated planning and development Bill to the House and that will have those statutory timeframes. I intend to get that into the House and our intention, as a Government, is to have that legislation passed this year.
In the meantime, I can assure the Deputy that, through my officials, we are actively engaged with the board to work through the backlog. Furthermore, we are using the expertise of retired planners to look at the smaller cases, such as individual house extensions and those types of things, in order to clear those through. That is working quite well but I will keep the Deputy informed of progress.