Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 3 Jul 2001

Vol. 540 No. 1

Written Answers. - Planning Staff.

Brian O'Shea

Ceist:

113 Mr. O'Shea asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the steps which are being taken to address serious staff shortages in An Bord Pleanála and planning departments of local authorities; if planners from the UK have been recruited by An Bord Pleanála on a fee per case basis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19722/01]

Jack Wall

Ceist:

327 Mr. Wall asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the number of planners employed in each local authority area; the number in permanent employment; the number in temporary employment; the concerns he has in relation to the matter; the plans he has to overcome this problem; the number of meetings he has held with representatives or county managers of local authorities in relation to the matter; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19874/01]

Minister of State at the Department of the Environment and Local Government (Mr. Molloy)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 113 and 327 together.

My Department has written to planning authorities on a number of occasions asking that they consider the adequacy of their staffing to ensure that the planning system does not cause bottlenecks in meeting demand and delivers the best possible service to the customer. While my Department has approved requests from planning authorities and An Bord Pleanála for sanction for additional professional planner posts, I am aware that some authorities have experienced difficulties in recruiting to fill these additional posts.

A survey by my Department of the larger local authority planning departments – i.e. county councils and county borough corporations – carried out on 31 January 2001 found that the overall number of serving staff, both administrative and professional, had increased to 1,090, which compared with a figure of 1,066 in October, 2000, 994 in July 2000 and 895 in September 1999. In relation to professional planners specifically, the January survey found that there was a total of 394 authorised posts for professional planners, 66 of which were vacant at that time, i.e. the total number of serving professional planners was 328. The number of planners in county councils and county boroughs in January 2001 is outlined in the following table.

In relation to An Bord Pleanála, in July 2000 I approved an increase of 29 additional staff – nine professional planners and 20 administrative staff – which brought An Bord Pleanála's authorised staff complement to 134, excluding board members. Recruitment of these additional staff is ongoing. Any proposal by An Bord Pleanála to engage the services of planners on a fee per case basis is a matter for the board and my Department's approval is not required. I am, however, aware that the board does employ planners on this basis and that a number have been recruited from the UK. I am also aware of plans by the board to engage private planning consultancy firms to assist in dealing with the large number of appeals on hand and that UK companies have submitted tenders.

In June 2000, I made the Local Government (Planning and Development) Regulations, 2000, which increased the size of exempted domestic extensions from 23 square metres to 40 square metres. This was designed to remove about 30% of planning applications for such extensions from the planning system in major urban areas, to allow planners to concentrate on more complex applications and forward planning issues.

I have been in contact with my colleague, the Minister for Education and Science, and the third level education sector with a view to identifying ways of producing more planners through the education system. As a result, from September 2000 new and expanded courses in University College Dublin and Dublin Institute of Technology Bolton Street will treble the output of graduate planners in two years time to approximately 75 planners graduating per annum.

In the interim, to meet the short-term demand, the employment of planners from abroad on fixed term contracts is being pursued. My Department met with the Housing and Infrastructure Committee of the City and County Managers Association at the end of last year to set out the range of measures that the Department proposed to undertake to recruit contract planners from abroad. In addition, the matter was also raised on a number of occasions directly by me at meetings on housing issues with the local authority managers in the greater Dublin area. In this regard, my Department, along with a number of local authorities and An Bord Pleanála, has also participated in the FÁS Jobs Ireland Campaign and other recruitment initiatives over the last few months to source professional planners on a contract basis. As a result of this, 27 qualified planners have been now offered planning positions in the local authorities and An Bord Pleanála on a contract basis. A significant additional number of applications have been submitted from abroad for positions as planners in the local authority sector in Ireland. More than 50 of these applicants have been shortlisted and arrangements are being made to interview them shortly. The Local Government Management Services Board is now managing this process and extending it to target other construction professionals, such as engineers, architects, quantity surveyors and technicians.

In this regard, an advertisement was lodged by the Local Government Management Services Board with the EU Official Journal on 5 June seeking proposals from suitable companies to source such staff to work in the local authorities on a contract basis.

List of Serving Planners (Permanent and Temporary) as of January, 2001

Planning Authority	Authorised Planners (Permanent)	Authorised Planners (Temporary)	Vacancies (Permanent)	Vacancies (Temporary)
County Council
Carlow	3	0	1	0
Cavan	4	0	2	0
Clare	13	1	0	0
Cork	40	0	8	0
Donegal	19	0	0	0
Dún Laoghaire Rathdown	17	5	0	2
Fingal	22	0	6	0
Galway	11	3	1	0
Kerry	10	1	0	0
Kildare	9	2	2	0
Kilkenny	5	1	1	0
Laois	6	2	1	0
Leitrim	2	1	0	0
Limerick	9	0	1	0
Longford	3	3	0	0
Louth	7	0	1.5	0
Mayo	10	0	1	3
Meath	7.5	2	2.5	0
Monaghan	5	0	0	0
Offaly	4	1	1	0
Roscommon	4	2	1	0
Sligo	5	0	7	2
South Dublin	16	3	0	0
Tipperary NR	5	0	2	0
Tipperary SR	7	0	0	1
Waterford	3	1	0	0
Westmeath	10	0	0	0
Wexford	12	1	0	1
Wicklow	6	5	2	0
Sub-total	274.5	34	41	9
County Boroughs
Cork Corp.	9	1	3	0
Dublin Corp.	63	0	12	0
Galway Corp.	6	0	0	0
Limerick Corp.	2	1	1	0
Waterford Corp.	3	0	0	0
Sub-total	83	2	16	0
Total	357.5	36	57	9