The National Roads Authority (NRA) yesterday lodged its first planning appeal with An Bord Pleanála.
The appeal is against a decision made by Kerry County Council to permit a one-off house fronting on the N22.
This followed a warning from An Taisce that the NRA could be held liable for future accidents if it did not appeal against decisions, made on foot of Section 140 motions, to grant permission for new houses fronting on to main roads. Section 140 motions give councillors the power to direct county managers to grant permission to a development.
Although the NRA is a prescribed body under the Planning Act, it had never before exercised its right of appeal to Bord Pleanála, even where it recommended a refusal of permission on traffic-safety grounds.
A spokesman for An Taisce welcomed the NRA's decision to appeal and said it looked forward to the authority taking "a consistent approach in relation to all future applications that contravene national guidelines".
An Taisce advised the NRA last month of three Section 140 permissions for one-off houses, at Glenflesk, Knockeenduff and Ballyhar, Co Kerry, all with the potential to create traffic hazards on national primary routes. In a letter to the NRA, An Taisce noted that councillors in Kerry had continued to adopt such motions in the face of a legal opinion by Mr Dermot Flanagan SC that they could be held personally liable for road accidents.
The letter warned that the NRA, having been made aware of the risks, would be liable for any failure to exercise its prescribed function by appealing against these decisions to Bord Pleanála.
It concluded: "If you fail to accept the above, we request that you confirm that you will accept liability for any accident or injury arising from development and vehicle movement affecting persons or vehicles using the entrances to these sites."
The NRA told An Taisce that it had no record of receiving notification from Kerry County Council of the three applications.
However, its local design office was notified and had recommended refusal in the case of Glenflesk, on a newly improved section of the N22 near Killarney.
Another of the applications - for a house at Ballyhar, on the N25 Killarney-Cork road - has since been withdrawn, while no comment was made on the third case, at Knockeenduff, on the N22 between Killarney and Farranfore.
"The NRA is not a planning authority," it told An Taisce. "Planning applications are in the first instance a matter for the relevant planning authority, in this case Kerry County Council, and, in the event of an appeal, An Bord Pleanála."
The NRA said it had forwarded An Taisce's correspondence to Kerry County Council.
