asked the Minister for Local Government if he is aware of the prolonged delay in dealing with planning appeals; and if he will take action to rectify the situation.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Planning Appeals.
89.
I am very conscious of the problems created by delays in dealing with planning appeals and since I became Minister for Local Government I have taken whatever steps were open to me to reduce the time taken for clearance of appeals. Additional staff has been assigned to the work and procedures have been streamlined as far as practicable. Planning authorities have also been encouraged to try to settle as many planning problems as possible at local level in order to reduce the need for appeals.
The steps taken have already had a significant effect. The arrears situation which built up in the years 1968-69 to 1970-71 because of the rapid increase in the number of new appeals received and staff shortages has now been reversed. Thus in the year ended 31st March, 1972, although 2,779 new appeals were received, compared with 2,491 appeals in the previous year, a total of 3,190 appeals were disposed of, so that the number of appeals on hands was reduced from 1,956 on 1st April, 1971, to 1,545 on 31st March, 1972. This reduction was achieved by the clearance of 841 more appeals in 1971-72 than in the preceding year, and more than 1,400 more than the clearance rate achieved in 1969-70. The more rapid clearance of appeals would naturally have been reflected in a reduction in the average time taken to deal with individual cases.
While I am glad to be able to record this improvement in the appeals position I hope it will be possible to maintain it and, if possible, improve on it. My objective is to reduce the time taken to deal with appeals to the absolute minimum and I will do whatever I can to bring this situation about.
May I put it to the Minister that much of his time has to go into deciding these appeals and with the demands on his time there is inevitable delay because of this? Would he now introduce, as a matter of urgency, legislation to provide for the setting up of an independent tribunal, apart from the other desirable consequences that would have?
I agree that naturally with the volume of appeals coming through the Department quite an amount of the Minister's time is taken up but my Parliamentary Secretary has been delegated the same powers as I have to decide appeals and spends quite a lot of time dealing with them. Generally speaking, appeals are not delayed at Minister or Parliamentary Secretary level. The real cause of delay is the volume of appeals and the technical complications in dealing with many of them. The large number of requests for oral hearings also causes further delay as it takes longer to deal with them.
Can the Minister say when the legislation might be introduced to set up the tribunal?
Sin ceist eile.
Could the Minister indicate the average delay in hearing appeals lodged?
No, I could not.
90.
asked the Minister for Local Government when he intends to make a decision on planning appeal No. 9202, Galway; and the reason for the long delay in the matter.
This appeal has been withdrawn.