Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 10 May 2022
377. Deputy Neasa Hourigan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the steps that his Department is taking to work closely with An Bord Pleanála to ensure that adequate staff resources are being provided to improve its statutory objective period compliance rate, particularly in relation to planning issues around renewable energy projects; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23388/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraAn Bord Pleanála (the Board) is the national independent statutory body with responsibility for the determination of planning appeals and direct applications for strategic infrastructure and other developments under the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, and certain other Acts.
Section 126 of the Act provides that it shall be the duty and objective of the Board to decide appeals as expeditiously as may be and, for that purpose, to take all such steps as are open to it to ensure that, insofar as is practicable, there are no avoidable delays at any stage in the determination of appeals.
In October 2021, my Department approved the 2021-2022 An Bord Pleanála Workforce Plan which provides for an additional 24 posts across a range of technical and administrative grades including the setting up of a new Marine and Climate Unit to implement the role assigned to the Board under the Maritime Area Planning Act 2021 and associated projects under the Climate Action Plan 2021.
These additional 24 approved posts increase overall approved Board staffing by 13% from its previous total of 183 staff (excluding board members). In addition, the Board advertised on 25 March 2022 for qualified individuals to apply to be members of external specialist consultancy panels to advise the Board e.g. ecologists, ornithologists, hydrologists etc.
Following an updated assessment by the Board of resourcing issues likely to emerge as a result of planning applications for the National Development Plan and other infrastructure projects as well as legislative changes, a new workforce plan for 2022-2023 seeking additional resources was submitted to my Department by the Board on 1 April 2022. The Board subsequently revised this plan and resubmitted their 2022-2023 workforce plan to my Department on 22 April 2022.
My Department is actively engaging with the Board in relation to this revised workforce plan. I understand that a separate staff resourcing plan for projects associated with the Maritime Area Planning Act, 2021 is expected from the Board shortly and this will also be considered in the context of the proposed Workforce Plan 2022-2023.
The Board is continuing to progress modernisation initiatives including a major ICT transformation project - Plean-IT – to deliver efficiencies in its planning inspectorate’s case processing including the facilitation of on-line submission of applications and appeals. My Department continues to liaise closely with the Board in relation to their resourcing needs, the upskilling of the organisation and the modernisation of their case processing procedures in order to effectively deliver on their statutory functions.
