Planning board chair pledges to take necessary action to maintain public confidence in its impartiality

The chairman of An Bord Pleanála is to tell TDs that he will take whatever actions are necessary to ensure the planning body’s systems are “as fit for purpose as possible” and to maintain public confidence in its impartiality.

Dave Walsh is to make the pledge at the Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee on Thursday a week after the board’s deputy chairman Paul Hyde tendered his resignation to Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien in advance of the conclusion of a number of inquiries into allegations of a conflict of interest.

There are claims that Mr Hyde was conflicted in some planning decisions as well as his personal property investments, his debts and his statutory declarations to the planning appeals body.

Mr O’Brien appointed senior counsel Remy Farrell to investigate the allegations in May. The investigation was due to conclude at the end of June but was extended by another five weeks. Mr Hyde has denied any impropriety but stood aside temporarily “without prejudice” from his role pending Mr Farrell’s report.

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An internal review of cases over which Mr Hyde presided is also being conducted by the board.

The committee is meeting to examine the board’s financial accounts and in his opening statement to the TDs Mr Walsh does not mention Mr Hyde by name.

“In recent months, a number of issues and allegations have arisen in respect of potential conflicts of interest and the effectiveness of board systems and procedures,” he said.

Mr Walsh said he recognises “the seriousness of these issues and the potential damage that these allegations have done to the board’s reputation for integrity, independence and impartiality”. He says that a team of senior managers were examining “any issues arising, with a view to identifying areas which may require improvements in relation to the suitability and effectiveness of existing controls, procedures and systems designed to manage potential conflicts of interest and related matters”.

He also says: “I will take whatever actions and reforms may be necessary and appropriate to strengthen our systems and procedures to ensure that they are as legally robust and fit for purpose as possible and practicable and with a view also to maintaining public confidence in the impartiality of the board’s decision-making processes”.

On the work of the board, Mr Walsh says there was an 18 per cent increase in the number of cases lodged, to 3,251, and that the number decided (2,775) was up by just under 6 per cent on 2020.

“While some of these increases may be attributed to the return to normal business following the extensive Covid-related disruptions during 2020, there has also been a marked increase in activity in the planning sector, reflecting the increased residential development activity, as well as wider economic activity across a range of sectors,” he says.