Mick Clifford: Refusal to publish reports into An Bord Pleanála not likely to instill confidence
Everybody wants to see a functioning ABP, particularly as planning is a key component in tackling the housing crisis. This can be achieved by addressing the problems that arose and reassuring staff that the issues have been fully and transparently dealt with.
Nothing more to see here, folks — everything is sorted.
So it would appear to go with the approach of Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien to the controversies that have engulfed An Bord Pleanála (ABP). However, the has seen correspondence that is in direct conflict with such a view.
Staff in the organisation, who bear no culpability for what has befallen it, are unhappy that various investigations have been kept secret. They also dispute the notion that the whole problem is down to some kind of management fuzziness that is all sorted out now with a bright, new, shiny rebranding of the board.
Last week, Mr O’Brien gave his considered view on ABP to political correspondent Paul Hosford.
“I think, from what I’ve seen, it's basically the blurring of lines between the governance of the board as an entity itself and the planning decisions,” he said.
"You had a board that was extremely busy. Its function should be about making planning decisions and actually trying to do that in an efficient way. But that same board was also involved in the management of the staff and the entity itself.”
He also threw in another element of the functioning of the organisation, concerning legal advice. The board had suffered from a “lack of access to good legal advice on a permanent basis”, he said.
This, the enterprising minister was rectifying by putting in place a senior legal executive. This last issue appears to be the classic red herring. As previously reported, there were attempts a number of years ago to recruit a full-time legal executive to the board. Problems arose with remuneration.
Any legal practitioner with the required expertise could earn much more in private practice, so it came down to practicalities. Use an external agent with the expertise and experience, or hire somebody who may be out of their depth if pitted against the big boys and girls. Understandably, the board chose the former.
How the problem of getting the right person for the right price this time around is going to be surmounted remains to be seen. One way or the other, there is not a scintilla of evidence that the quality of legal advice received by ABP over recent years was below the required standard.
The minister’s allegation about a “blurring of lines” in management structures is another matter. Last November, members of the trade union Fórsa — which represents most of the 170 staff in ABP — passed a unanimous motion expressing "support for, and confidence in the chief officer, director of corporate affairs, and the senior officer of human resources".
These three figures, the employees stated, “have the integrity, good standing, and reputation of the organisation as the primary and central focus in the carrying out of their functions at this difficult time”.
Ordinarily, at a time of management crisis in an organisation, it might be expected that the staff, who bear no culpability for the crisis, would be ill-disposed towards management.
Quite obviously, in this instance, the staff at ABP believe the management figures referenced were not only blameless but were operating in the best interests of ABP and its employees.
The three management figures, Brid Hill, Gerard Egan, and Mary Kelly, are at the apex of the permanent management of the board, which operates independently of the appointed board members and chair.
The employees are obviously of the opinion that all of the problems emanate from the section of management that is appointed for fixed-term contracts by the Minister for Housing. Mr O’Brien is aware of exactly how the staff feels about where ABP has gone wrong in recent years.
Last November, Fórsa wrote to the minister pointing out that its members “wish to engage constructively to repair the damage caused by a small number of individuals to the reputation of ABP”. The response from the minister has been to issue his blueprint for the future and leave the past unresolved.
The most obvious expression in this regard is a refusal to publish two internal reports which lay bare the workings of ABP which have led to its current low standing.
The internal review — which was conducted by the three management figures in whom the employees expressed confidence — has not been published. Neither has a separate investigation into allegations of conflicts of interest by the director of planning, Rachel Kenny.
Ms Kenny was exonerated in the investigation, which was conducted by an external agent, but little is known about the terms of reference or how the conclusions were reached. The staff, according to the letter sent by Fórsa to APB management, are unhappy with that outcome.
“Our members have expressed strong concerns that such a report could have been commissioned without, apparently, any consultation with staff members within the organisation, including those at the most senior level,” the letter from Fórsa official Ian McDonnell stated.
The letter went on: “Our members have pointed out that many of the current problems with ABP could have been avoided if the previous culture of openness and consultation had not been eroded over recent years.”
Yet the culture of secrecy remains. There are no plans to enlighten the staff on what exactly went wrong and who bears culpability, according to unpublished reports. Neither is there any inclination to include staff in mapping a new way forward.
One of Mr O’Brien’s proposals is to appoint temporary members of the board from the civil service. This, quite obviously, raises questions about independence, particularly if any of these members return to their old jobs after leaving ABP.
An obvious solution would be to appoint staff members to the board, as there is a tradition of appointments from the inspectorate, but for some reason, Mr O’Brien prefers to appoint from the ranks of the permanent government.
Everybody wants to see a functioning ABP, particularly as planning is a key component in tackling the housing crisis. This can be achieved by addressing the problems that arose and reassuring staff that the issues have been fully and transparently dealt with.
Brushing the bad stuff under the carpet and telling everybody to just get on with the job is unlikely to instill confidence among either staff or the general public.
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