An Bord Pleanála has started another round of investigations into governance issues in the authority on the heels of a senior barrister’s unpublished report on “matters of concern” in the organisation that took 20 months to complete.
The planning appeals body has struggled to overcome turmoil set off by allegations of impropriety in the spring of 2022, with a large backlog of planning cases still to be cleared at a time of crisis in the housing market.
In a statement released online last Wednesday but not circulated to media, An Bord Pleanála said the latest investigations follow legal advice to its chairman, Peter Mullan, on findings delivered in August by Lorna Lynch SC.
“Arising from the report and further to legal advice, a small number of additional time-limited investigations are required in relation to specific elements of the report,” said An Bord Pleanála.
“These investigations will be conducted by and/or on behalf of the chairperson. It is anticipated that they will be completed by the end of October 2024.”
The planning authority declined to specify what issues were to be investigated or why. It also declined to set out the number of new inquiries, the terms of reference or even the names of the investigators.
“An Bord Pleanála is not in a position to provide further comment in the interim,” the authority said in reply to questions.
The findings of Ms Lynch’s “scoping report” remain private and it is unclear whether An Bord Pleanála plans publication at any point.
Referring to the new inquiries, the planning board said: “The outcome of these investigations, along with engagement with other parties, will inform considerations in respect of the publication of the scoping investigation report.”
Spokeswoman for Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien said the Lynch investigation was a matter for An Bord Pleanála, adding that it had initiated the exercise.
“To date, neither the Minister nor his department have been briefed on the content of the report,” she said.
Ms Lynch’s report was the seventh formal examination of the authority issues since the affair began. She was engaged by An Bord Pleanála in January 2023 to scrutinise hundreds of case files for any “conflicts of interest and objective or actual bias”.
She was also asked to investigate the allocation of files to board members and inspectors, officials’ statutory declarations, amendments to inspectors’ reports and communications with external parties outside formal channels.
Ms Lynch’s findings came two years after a July 2022 report for the Minister by Remy Farrell SC, which also remains unpublished.
Mr Farrell’s report prompted a Garda investigation into the conduct of Paul Hyde, former deputy chairman of An Bord Pleanála. A Garda file sent to the DPP led to Hyde’s conviction. He received a suspended prison sentence last November for failing to declare certain property interests, after pleading guilty to two charges.
Former planning board chairman Dave Walsh commissioned an internal report on the management of some 300 case files.
Mr Walsh also commissioned a separate report from consultants Resolve Ireland into allegations made against An Bord Pleanála then director of planning Rachel Kenny.
Resolve found Ms Kenny had “no case to answer” about any alleged conflict of interest and cleared her of any breaches of the board’s code of conduct. She received a €212,850 severance payment in June 2023 when leaving the authority.
In addition, the Office of the Planning Regulator commissioned two separate reports on An Bord Pleanála.
