An Bord Pleanála to stop dealing with cases in chronological order

An Bord Pleanála will stop dealing with planning cases in a chronological order, in a fresh bid to address the board’s backlog of cases.

“There are different types of cases before the board for determination” and it “will be applying different prioritisation to those cases and will therefore not deal with cases in chronological order”, An Bord Pleanála said in a statement published on its website. The board “has decided that this is the best way to manage its backlog in the most effective way possible”.

An Bord Pleanála has faced heavy criticism in recent years for the apparent slow pace in making decisions on planning applications. Delays have been magnified by the housing shortage especially in Dublin.

“There has been a significant turnover of personnel at board level in the organisation over recent months,” the board said. “This has resulted in restricted capacity at board level and a consequent backlog of cases for determination. [15] board members have now been appointed and recruitment of additional resources is progressing. This will provide the necessary capacity to address current delays in determining cases over time,” it added.

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Chairman Peter Mullan apologised to those impacted by the holdups.

A spokeswoman said there were 2,258 cases on hand, a decrease of 11 per cent from the beginning of 2024. She said this was down from 3,613 cases on hand in May 2023 which included about 600 Residential Zoned Land Tax (RZLT) cases.

The spokeswoman said the cases on hand included 56 Strategic Housing Developments (SHDs) applications.

“It is anticipated that a number of these cases will be decided in the coming months, while a number of others are affected by certain legal issues in relation to the development plan cycle,” she said.

On staffing levels, the spokeswoman said there had been “an increase in staffing in the inspectorate from 66 at the end of February 2023 to 86 at the end of February 2024, which includes three specialist posts”.

“In addition, inspector recruitment is ongoing via formal competitions, with an expectation that a further 15-20 inspector positions will be filled by the end of quarter two 2024,” she said.

The appeals board statement concludes by thanking people for their patience “while we work as expeditiously as possible to fully clear the backlog of cases over the coming period”.

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