An Bord Pleanála structure was 'not fit for purpose' — Darragh O'Brien
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Issues at An Bord Pleanála were caused by a "blurring of lines in governance", the Housing Minister has said.
In an interview with the , Darragh O'Brien said the central failing at the scandal-hit planning watchdog was that the "structure was not fit for purpose".
Sweeping changes will be made to Ireland's planning laws after initial allegations against deputy chair of An Bord Pleanála Paul Hyde surfaced concerning planning decisions involving family members, in-laws, and, in one instance, a company in which he himself was a substantial shareholder. Mr Hyde has always denied any impropriety.
It prompted the Government to completely review how the planning system operates, with Mr O'Brien bringing a new Planning and Development Bill to Cabinet pre-Christmas.
Speaking to this paper, the minister said he felt issues had been caused because the board of the regulator was also involved in planning decisions.
"I think from what I've seen is the, basically, blurring of the lines between the governance of the board as an entity itself, and the planning decisions.
"Basically, the structure wasn't fit for purpose. You had a board that's extremely busy. Its function should be about making planning decisions, and actually trying to do that in an efficient way. But that same board was also involved in the management of the staff and the entity itself.
"So the governance of the board to make sure that it operates efficiently... the same people were actually the ones who are trying to make the decisions or were charged to make the decisions of very important planning applications that were with them. So the structure itself wasn't fit for purpose."
Mr O'Brien said he felt the "lack of access to good legal advice on a permanent basis" was a problem at An Bord Pleanála and that is why he was putting in place a senior legal executive who will sit on the board.
He added "resourcing wasn't always where it should be" and that An Bord Pleanála did not have "the number of people required to be able to do the job that that is there".
As an example, he pointed to the Strategic Housing Development (SHD) fast-track planning process as an area where the board "wasn't ready" for the workload.
This system was introduced in 2016 and saw planning applications of 100 homes or more sent directly to the board, rather than to local councils initially.
The scheme saw dozens of applications from developers, while some decisions were challenged in the courts and others were not ruled on within the required 16-week deadline.
Mr O'Brien said the additional applications and work saw the board "basically swamped".
"You had a small group of people doing lots of the work, not just the planning decisions, but the management of how the board operates."
Under the proposed new structure of the Planning Commission, there will be a chief planning commissioner and up to 14 other planning commissioners in the rebranded authority. These will be full-time posts and will replace the current chairperson and board-member roles, which Mr O'Brien said would change the dynamic of how the system works.
Asked if he was satisfied with investigations into An Bord Pleanála, Mr O'Brien said that he was conscious that parts of senior counsel Remy Farrell's report were before the courts, but said he "does not anticipate" any further investigations.
"I think in fairness, most people will see that we've acted on them very quickly, and have acted to bring in that change very efficiently as well. So it gets to a stage where we can keep looking back all the time.
Part of the criticism of the Government since Mr O'Brien took office is that it focuses too largely on supply-side measures in housing and is too deferential to developers, but the Fianna Fáil TD for Dublin Fingal said that is a "lazy" charge levelled at the party.
"I reject the charge completely. And I think it's a lazy charge from those who make it. It's just a political throwaway remark.
"The reality of the situation is that we need more homes built. You'll find that those who level those criticisms are the same ones who are objecting to housing, right all the way across the country on a regular basis."
Mr O'Brien said the Land Value Sharing (LVS) initiative announced pre-Christmas was a major step-change in housing policy. Under the current system, any increased value in land, once rezoned, goes to landowners, who get higher prices if they sell to a developer.
LVS would ensure the additional value was shared in a fairer way with the State, and would operate in addition to the immediate increase from 10% to 20% in the value uplift going to the provision of social and affordable housing.
Mr O'Brien said the plan would "work well" alongside the Zoned Land Tax in a bid to stop people from hoarding land.
"If land that's zoned for years and over a number of development plans hasn't been activated, the question has to be asked 'should it be zoned at all?' or are people just holding on to it for the book value or the asset value of their company or their farm or, or indeed themselves personally and why isn't it being developed, so that must be taxed.
"Or if it's not going to be developed, they should apply for it to be resumed. And then on the flip side of that, it also puts it up to local authorities to be saying to them 'why are you counting this land that's zoned towards your housing targets?', that if you've a farm in the middle of a town or a city, that's zoned where the farmer has no desire whatsoever to develop that land.
"I have examples of that, I won't mention where it is in one very significant urban town where there's land that's zoned that if developed would deliver about 8-900 homes where the local authority are counting those homes in their plans but it won't be developed. And that has to change."
On housing targets, Mr O'Brien said the pipeline for delivery of homes in 2023 was "pretty good", with 35,000 homes under construction.
However, he said that 2024 could see a challenge because some local authorities "do not have enough land".