Sir, - I read in The Irish Times on Saint Patrick's Day, under the heading "An Taisce objections forcing people out of rural communities" the following: "An Taisce has become so powerful that it has turned into a monster, overruling planning permissions granted by local authorities for completely unknown reasons." This is according to Senator William Farrell of Sligo, speaking at the annual seminar of the Institute of Professional Auctioneers and Valuers.
He goes on: "It is an organisation made up of faceless people, who don't even come down to look at a site. They just tell you they object to the development and that is the end of it. Their behaviour is forcing, people out of rural communities.
In 1996 in County Sligo, there were 942 planning applications, of which 43 were appealed to An Bord Pleanala. Of these 43, An Taisce was responsible for none. We appealed no development in S1igo in 1996, and indeed have appealed very few in recent times, in part because we judge that the planner there is doing a good job.
Nationally, in 1996 we lodged 26 appeals with An Bord Pleanala, out of a total number of appeals close to 3,000. In the (very few) cases which An Taisce appeals, the site is visited, the reasons for the appeal are clearly spelled out and are available to every citizen, either from An Taisce directly, or at the local authority. An Taisce can't "overrule" anything. The only "power" we have is to appeal a planning application to An Bord Pleanala, a power which is every citizen's right in Ireland. - Yours, etc.,
Chairman, An Taisce, Tailors' Hall,
Back Lane, Dublin 8.