Cianan Brennan: An Bord Pleanála struggling to read the room after report leaks

The offices of An Bord Pleanala in Dublin. Picture: Niall Carson/PA Wire

Two weeks ago, I wrote that the Government appeared to be following the whitewash playbook in terms of its actions regarding the ongoing controversies surrounding An Bord Pleanála.

What I meant was, a token sacrifice appeared to have been made in the form of the body’s former chair Paul Hyde, who faces a criminal charge relating to some of his actions at the board, and who has lost his job.

At that stage, everything pointed towards the plan of action being much pontification regarding the need to learn lessons in order to restore public confidence in the planning process, while leaving everything else at the planning body basically unchanged, including the board’s personnel.

Nothing that has happened this week has changed my opinion on that score.

Over the last three days, the Irish Examiner has published a series of exclusive reports regarding an internal investigation at An Bord Pleanála into the authority’s decision-making processes.

That report — the third such significant statutory probe of the body’s processes commissioned since last April — had initially been expected to be delivered before the end of the summer but had been delayed on a number of occasions.

The report, carried out by three of An Bord Pleanála’s most senior employees, was delivered to the chair of the board Dave Walsh last Wednesday.

Now a cynic might consider an internal report as being unlikely to present much of a problem to the board, particularly when the chair has final say as to whether or not it gets published or not.

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Nevertheless, Mick Clifford's reporting turned up some fairly gobsmacking details, further to the conflicts of interest at the board, complicated cases being assigned to inexperienced inspectors, inspectors’ reports being interfered with, and inspectors’ recommendations being ignored by deciding board members in an excessive number of cases.

Revelations

It emerged that a separate investigation had been carried out into a staff member at An Bord Pleanála who had apparently processed a planning application from a team which included “a person well known” to them. That investigation would simply never have been known about had the report not leaked or had the chair eventually chosen not to publish it, or to publish with heavy redactions.

The report bemoaned the notion that a “concerted attempt” may be made by the powers that be to move the organisation away from “the cultural norms” which had served it so well for nearly 50 years on foot of the various scandals it had experienced.

It suggested that the blame for its ballooning legal fees, which have more than doubled in recent years primarily as a result of challenges to strategic housing planning decisions, could be placed at the door of its own people who had deviated from the authority’s own procedures, thus making it difficult to adequately brief the board’s lawyers.

More details also emerged. A report was uncovered by the inquiry regarding an alleged romantic relationship between two staff who were part of the decision-making process at the board, one which would have placed both in a compromising position regarding their duties.

However, while many of the details in the report were already public knowledge, it was how the board reacted to its being leaked into the public domain that was most instructive.

All along, An Bord Pleanála had insisted that its report would be published by the chair pending legal advice. The body reiterated as much every time it was asked.

But then the report leaked. And how did the chair, Mr Walsh, respond? A man, remember, under whose watch the whole farrago had unfolded, and whose recommendation saw Mr Hyde first recommended for the post of deputy chair in 2018?

“The chairperson is also initiating an investigation into the unauthorised leaking of this confidential internal report,” a spokesperson said in the wake of this newspaper's reports.

In terms of tone deafness, such a reaction rivals even the Minister for Housing’s decision during the summer to respond to the planning body's controversies by making it harder for people to challenge the board’s decisions in the courts, the previous high watermark for wrongheadedness in the face of clear evidence of poor practice at the top levels of Ireland’s planning system.

Further actions

The spokesperson added that Mr Walsh is “considering what further actions, if any, are warranted arising from the analysis and findings” of the report. What further actions indeed, perhaps the future of his own role at the organisation, given the reputational battering the boat has taken under his watch as chairman.

Instead, the board appears more concerned that the report leaked than by the nature of its contents. Whether or not this new leak investigation turns up anything is beside the point — the fact Mr Walsh would prioritise commissioning such an investigation points to an organisation which has its priorities way out of whack.

This should come as little surprise to those of you paying attention. After the planning regulator published its own investigation into An Bord Pleanála earlier this month, one calling for “major reform” of the organisation, An Bord Pleanála put out a statement welcoming the fact that “no specific criticisms of the board’s” practices had been identified.

Reading the room and self-reflection are not the board’s greatest talents it seems.

Regardless, even if Mr Walsh chooses to take no further action regarding his own report’s findings, the court of public opinion’s verdict already appears to be out of step with his own. This is a controversy which likely requires more than one head to roll.