Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 2 February 2010
556 Deputy Thomas Byrne asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the timeframe for determining planning cases by An Bord Pleanála; his plans to further expedite the decision making process. [4580/10]
View answerIn 2009, An Bord Pleanála focused on dealing with a backlog of cases and restoring compliance with its statutory objective to determine cases within 18-weeks. The compliance rate has increased from 36% in September 2009 to 50% in December. These improvements in the latter part of 2009 will continue and it is expected that the compliance rate will continue to rise throughout 2010.
The Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2009 will assist the Board in achieving efficiencies of operation including through a reduction in the current statutory quorum of Board members from three to two for the purpose of determining certain classes of routine cases.
