Sir, - I have great sympathy for the sentiments expressed in your Letters page about Bray Head and An Bord Pleanala. But they don't go far enough. A key issue - the fatal flaw - of our planning process is being missed.
We have a process of public consultation, framed by a development plan made by elected councillors and an appeal system that includes an oral hearing before an expert inspector.
Ultimately, however, power lies with a planning board made up of unaccountable, unelected people, who, without justifying their actions, can - and do, on occasion - overrule public opinion, throw aside a development plan, outflank local democracy and throw the book (figuratively speaking) at their own expert inspector.
In the case of housing proposed for Bray Head, the board's inspector recommended refusal of permission. He said it would lead to "a serious injury to the visual amenity of the area". Tough luck, said the board (or words to that effect), and granted permission anyway.
Hardly a reassuring precedent for the worthy citizens who, in order to protect Ballymore Eustace or the Burren, are putting their money, energies and hopes into the planning process.
If we do not learn from our experience we are doomed, inevitably, to suffer a repeat of it. That is why it is vital that the Planning Bill due to be published this autumn includes measures to ensure the accountability of An Bord Pleanala as well as reinforcing the status of development plans.
That, and the fact that one of the biggest anti-corruption investigations in the history of the State into our planning process is currently under way. - Yours, etc.,
Liz McManus TD, Dail Eireann Baile Atha Cliath, 2.