A “legal problem” encountered by An Bord Pleanála has placed the planning permissions of up to 27,000 homes, already delayed, in jeopardy, the Sunday Business Post reports. The agency has admitted that it may have no option but to refuse permissions on large housing developments which have already been delayed in the planning system for nearly a year.
Oonagh Buckley, the interim chairperson of An Bord Pleanála, has said due to the changes in recent development plans published by local authorities, there is “a legal problem as to whether we’re going to be able to grant” permission for up to 77 large housing projects.
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She said due to planning law, there is no scope for developers to tweak their applications to make them compliant with changes to development plans. As a result, An Bord Pleanála will be forced to outright refuse permission.
Pernod Ricard won’t halt Jameson whiskey exports to Russia
Pernod Ricard, the French-headquartered alcohol conglomerate and owner of Irish Distillers, is continuing to export Jameson whiskey to Russia despite its Swedish business opting to suspend sending its Absolut Vodka brand to the country following a public backlash, according to the Sunday Independent. The move to continue exporting to Russia has sparked an angry response from some politicians in Ireland.
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An Post chief executive expected to extend contract despite RTÉ controversy
An Post chief executive David McRedmond is expected to extend his tenure in the top job at the postal service for another three years, also according to the Sunday Independent. McRedmond’s current seven-year contract expires in September. A spokeswoman for An Post said no comment could be made in relation to contracts.
RTÉ has been embroiled in recriminations since detailed leaks of a board meeting called to rubber-stamp the appointment of former deputy director general Kevin Bakhurst to the role emerged. Several board members were reported to be reluctant to approve the appointment and allegedly expressed surprise at the early dismissal of Mr McRedmond — a former head of TV3, now Virgin Media — in the interview process.
Budgetary watchdog warns against unbalancing economy
The Government risks “overheating” and “unbalancing” the economy if it spends its surging corporate tax windfalls, the head of the State’s budgetary watchdog has warned, the Sunday Business Post reports. Sebastian Barnes, chairman of the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, said the Government needed to be “very careful” in how it manages and spends the recent surge in corporate tax receipts, which have more than doubled in the last three years to €22.6 billion.
“If the Government spends the corporate tax windfalls it’s seeing right now, we’d basically end up with an economy with too much money chasing too few resources.
Garda HQ paid communications consultancy more than €300,000 during pandemic
Garda Headquarters paid a Dublin communications consultancy more than €380,000 during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to records released under freedom of information legislation, the Sunday Times reports.
The documents show that the Communications Clinic has billed An Garda Siochana more than €413,000 since 2016, with the vast majority of those costs coming over the past three years. The consultancy was paid €10,603 in 2016 and €21,376 in 2017. That figure rose to €40,549 in 2020, €140,712 in 2021 and €200,544 in 2022 — an average of more than €16,700 a month.
