Councillor calls for An Bord Pleanála investigation
A Cork County Councillor has asked for an investigation into the activities of An Bord Pleanála (ABP), claiming that the board is “very much against” development in rural Ireland.
Speaking at a recent full meeting of Cork County Council, Fianna Fáil’s Cllr Bernard Moynihan said Ireland's national planning body is consistently overturning plannings granted by Cork County Council.
He asked that the council write to the Government requesting an investigation particularly with regard to plannings in rural Ireland.
Cllr Moynihan also asked for exact figures on how many plannings granted by Cork County Council have been overturned by An Bord Pleanála recently.
“I know of three specific plannings that were granted for people who needed housing and were granted planning by Cork County Council. It was appealed to APB and the board, as always, goes against and development in rural Ireland,” said Cllr Moynihan.
The Kanturk councillor said he feels that whatever planning Cork County Council grants, if it goes to ABP, it will be overturned.
“We as a council need to look at the way they behave. I’m concerned about the policies at ABP and the corporate governance. We’re for rural Ireland and the communities in rural Ireland. Every councillor in the chamber of Cork County Council supports the development and enhancement of rural Ireland,” he said.
Following Cllr Moynihan’s remarks, it was agreed that Cork County Council would write to the Government to request an investigation.
ABP is Ireland’s national independent planning body that decides appeals on planning decisions made by local authorities as well as direct applications.
ABP issued the following statement in response: “An Bord Pleanála considers cases before it on a case by case basis and its decision documentation including any inspector’s report which it considered is made available for public inspection after each such decision is made. ABP does not comment on decisions made and in that context has no further comment on this matter.”