asked the Minister for Local Government if he will state in respect of planning appeals the longest period which has elapsed between the submission of an appeal and the issue of a decision by his Department.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Planning Appeals.
108.
A total of 11,273 appeals under the Local Government (Planning and Development) Act, 1963, have been disposed of by my Department up to 31st May, 1971. To ascertain the information required by the Deputy would necessitate an examination of the records relating to all these cases and this would take a considerable amount of time. I do not consider it advisable to divert the staff from the urgent work of dealing with current appeals to carry out such an examination.
Is it not true that there are delays of from nine months to a year and four or five months in these appeals and is that not too long? Can nothing be done to expedite this work because people often have the money and the plans ready and perhaps somebody ready to build?
Nobody is more aware of this than I am. I have said before that I have been taking special measures in the Department to try to expedite the decision-making on appeals. One of the great difficulties is the lack of suitably qualified staff to put in charge of this type of work as planning inspectors. Successive advertisements and scouting around for qualified persons have not succeeded in turning up the numbers I have sanctioned for appointment. I have not been able to get them. I have to try to deal with an ever-increasing number of appeals with a very limited staff and an increasing number of appeals coming in.
I have set about making a very special effort by making certain changes to try to improve the situation. I am happy to be able to tell the Deputy that the result of that reorganisation which was initiated recently was shown in the month of May when a total of 322 appeals were disposed of. This was the highest monthly total ever. The intake of appeals in that month was 196. For the first time since the 1963 Planning Act came into operation there is a reduction in the number of planning appeals on hand. As the Deputy will appreciate the number has been increasing steadily over the years. On 31st March, 1964, appeals on hand numbered 490. In 1971 that had gone up to 1,980. On 31st May of this year the figure was 1,888, so there was a reduction. I am pleased with the effort we have been making and I intend to keep pressing to try to reduce the delay in deciding planning apeals. This is a very important matter.
Some time ago the Minister suggested to the planning officers that they should try to deal with the appeals directly instead of sending them on to the Department. Has the Minister had any success with that?
I would not yet be able to give any indication to the Deputy as to the effects of that circular. While seeking the co-operation of the local authorities in dealing with appeals at their level, we have also taken special steps in the Department. The steps we have taken are showing results and I expect that the local authorities will also co-operate and face up to this problem in a realistic fashion. When people are refused by the local authority, unless they feel they have a very very genuine case, they should not proceed to the Department and ask the Minister to intervene and decide matters which in many cases are black and white and which it is quite evident will have to be refused anyway.