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.