An Bord Pleanála's strategic housing development decisions and the €8.2m cost of defending them

As scrutiny mounts, attention is turning to the enormous cost of  court appeals that are successful in a majority of cases

The strategic-housing-development process has been in place since 2017. Picture: Ballymoregroup.com

Long before the furore engulfing the State's planning adjudicator over the rulings of its deputy chair, Paul Hyde, An Bord Pleanála (ABP) had another major issue, hiding in plain sight.

In administering the strategic housing-development (SHD) process since 2017, ABP had found itself subject to a worrying trend, particularly from 2020. Its rubber stamp of approval for these new, large-scale (100 units and greater) developments was being challenged in the courts. And, far more often than not, the board wasn't winning and that was at a huge cost to the taxpayer.