Irish Examiner view: An Bord Pleanála's credibility clouded by court case
Picture: Bord Is Rté Gareth Chaney/collins Dublin Fits Pleanála? An Crisis, If In Description What
The week does not look like it is improving at all for RTÉ: Some of its most senior executives faced hard questions at the Oireachtas arts and media committee yesterday, the same day we learned that contract negotiations with Ryan Tubridy have paused.
After the tumultuous events of Tuesday, the weekend can’t come fast enough for the national broadcaster.
One of the only bodies that might give RTÉ competition for the title of most embattled organisation in Ireland is An Bord Pleanála.
Its week has not been quite as eventful, but it emerged that Rachel Kenny, director of planning at An Bord Pleanála, is leaving her post. She is the third senior figure to leave in the last year or so — in November 2022, chairman Dave Walsh took early retirement after the published details of a damning internal review, while deputy chairman Paul Hyde resigned in May 2022.
The interim chair of An Bord Pleanála, Oonagh Buckley, was brought in last January, but she is scheduled to move to the Department of the Environment and Climate Change in September, having stirred controversy last month with comments about solicitors and judges.
Then, last Tuesday, Paul Hyde appeared at Skibbereen District Court, where he pleaded guilty to two breaches of planning laws, in what the court heard was a “very serious” case.
Judge Judge James McNulty will deliver the verdict on Friday, having heard that the maximum penalties open to the court are six months in prison and/or a fine up to €5,000.
If RTÉ is in crisis, what description fits An Bord Pleanála?
Resignations and reviews can be seen as opportunities for renewal by the optimistic — a chance to wipe the slate clean and to begin afresh.
But the Hyde case relates to the organisation’s reason for existing in the first place.
If An Bord Pleanála’s former deputy chairman is pleading guilty to breaches of planning law, where does that leave the organisation’s credibility in adjudicating on planning matters?