County manager confident he can refute claims of planning irregularities

CORK county manager Martin Riordan says he wants to see all allegations made against his planning staff and is confident he will be able to refute every one of them.

He told councillors at a meeting yesterday that Minister for the Environment John Gormley had sought an inquiry into the council’s handling of 42 planning cases on foot of complaints made by Ian Lumley, An Taisce’s heritage manager.

The manager did not outline the nature of the complaints, but 26 involved An Bord Pleanála overturning permission granted by the council after objections from An Taisce. The other 16 were one-off housing applications. Mr Riordan said he hoped to be in a position to report back to the minister by July 16.

“As county manager I am concerned that public comment has created an impression that there are irregularities in the planning process in Cork County Council. The planning system is one of the most transparent processes in the public service, including an independent appeal to An Bord Pleanála. I am confident the planning system in Cork County Council is of the highest standard and look forward to addressing any concerns the minister may have in due course.”

Mr Riordan said he would welcome the publication of any other complaints which may have been made to the minister so he could address all of them.

Last year the council processed 5,444 planning applications, of which just 236 were appealed. During the height of the Celtic Tiger officials were processing in excess of 12,000 applications per year, which is more than An Bord Pleanála deal with annually.

Party leaders in the chamber – Paula Desmond (Lab), Alan Coleman (FF) and Michael Hegarty (FG) – said the tone of the minister’s announcement made it sound as though there were serious planning irregularities in the council, which the members didn’t believe. They questioned the “closeness”, admitted by the minister, between the Green Party and an Taisce.

Cllr John Mulvihill (Lab) said the minister should concentrate on more pressing issues. “He’s something else. We have a serious issue in Cork harbour (with the toxic dump). It’s more serious than anything else. There are people dying of cancer in Cobh and the minister is doing nothing,” Mr Mulvihill said.

Fine Gael councillors Gerard Murphy and Veronica Neville said An Taisce had the right to appeal any decisions to An Bord Pleanála but it seemed they wanted a third and higher appeals’ mechanism through the office of the minister.

Party colleague, Cllr Gerry Kelly, said the allegations had done huge damage to the council’s reputation.