Sir, – The report in the Irish Times that An Bord Pleanála has effectively reopened the planning process for the Greater Dublin Drainage (GDD) project confirms that the planning board is a dysfunctional organisation (“Bord Pleanála decision on ‘vital’ €500m sewage plant delayed to next year”, News, September 3rd).
As noted, it was An Bord Pleanála which made an error by failing to seek observations from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) before granting planning permission in 2019. An Bord Pleanála has compounded that error by failing to ask the EPA for observations following the High Court decision in April 2021.
This will delay a vital piece of environmental infrastructure for at least two years and add tens of millions of euro to the cost, never mind the implications for development in the north Dublin region, and the ongoing adverse environmental impacts that will arise in the intervening period.
The fact that a statutory body can sit on its hands for 16 months ignoring its own failings is mind boggling.
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For a vital infrastructure project designed to last 50-plus years, the “passage of time” rationale for requesting an update is a nonsense.
The taxpayer deserves better. What is the Government going to do about this? – Yours, etc,
WILLIAM RYAN,
Dublin 15.