An obituary for An Bord Pleanála

With the demise of the planning board as we know it, it is hard  to conceive of a more dysfunctional political response to what is needed to restore confidence in our planning system and facilitate the speedy lawful delivery of homes

Proposals in second planning bill will likely add to delays in the delivery of housing and energy, not just on the decisions being judicially reviewed but because of the uncertainty introduced into the whole system on the interpretation of the law. Picture: Denis Minihane

 An Bord Pleanála as we knew it, is no more — it has been subsumed back into the darkness of political control. The safeguards for its independence, to limit political control and provide for Oireachtas oversight now stricken from the statute books as of last week.

The prospects for its successor are bleak. Our ability to hold its planning decisions to account before the courts are even bleaker. This is all on foot of a planning bill railroaded through before Christmas, and another one approved at Cabinet last Tuesday to be advanced after Christmas.