An Bord Pleanála internal inquiry seeks ‘to learn’ from ‘particularly difficult’ 2022

An Bord Pleanála chairwoman Oonagh Buckley will tell PAC that 'the morale of staff was badly affected'. Picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins

The new chair of An Bord Pleanála commissioned an internal investigation at the planning authority in order “to learn” from the body’s “particularly difficult” 2022 and to ensure the year of scandal “cannot reoccur”.

Oonagh Buckley, a senior civil servant temporarily seconded to An Bord Pleanála from the Department of Justice following the departure of former chairman Dave Walsh last November, will on Thursday tell the Dáil Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that she appointed senior counsel Lorna Lynch to carry out a “scoping investigation” into a number of An Bord Pleanála’s case files and to make recommendations “as to any necessary next steps”.