After months of controversy over former An Bord Pleanála (ABP) deputy chairman Paul Hyde, the body faces a titanic task to restore its credibility as the independent arbiter of planning appeals. It is no less a task for Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien, who has political responsibility for an institution that seems riven with dysfunction.
Hyde’s fate is now in the hands of the Director of Public Prosecutions but the damage done already to ABP is significant. This quasi-judicial body must at all times be seen to be independent and impartial in its operations. The disclosures about Hyde, who denies any wrongdoing, have called all that into question because the second-highest official in the organisation now faces the prospect of criminal prosecution after an inquiry into alleged conflicts of interest. This is gravely serious for ABP and the Minister because public confidence in the integrity of the planning system is critical.
O’Brien has already signalled drastic steps to overhaul ABP, including a new requirement to submit monthly corporate governance reports to the Minister’s office. But the drip-drip of revelations has left doubt over the board’s capacity to implement change in an institution that has been beset with turmoil for months. News today about the late-night political interventions that led Hyde to stand aside temporarily in May raises further questions for the authority. Notwithstanding the requirements of due process, the sequence of events points to a lack of urgency and indecision within ABP as the controversy intensified.
It was bad enough that Hyde signed off on his sister-in-law’s appeal and worse still that there was no effective procedure for preventing such a thing happening. He insists he simply did not know the family link in the case. But whether this was an adequate basis for him remaining in line to consider new appeals is questionable.
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That was the backdrop to the Minister’s decision to demand Hyde’s abrupt withdrawal from case work by cutting off his phone, email and access to electronic and paper files. It should never have come to that, and O’Brien will have to provide a public explanation. Behind the scenes he argued that the move was required to maintain trust and confidence in the board. But if it was obvious to the Minister, planners and the public that Hyde could not credibly stay on after the disclosure of his sister-in-law’s case, it does not appear to have been obvious within ABP. That seems the only explanation for the Minister’s decision to force its hand.
The Hyde affair created an emergency for ABP but it was not met with an internal response befitting an emergency for its standing with the people it serves. Confidence cannot be restored until a full airing of the facts, but that is still some way away.