Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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53. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will report on the temporary increase in the maximum number of ordinary board members that may be appointed to the board of An Bord Pleanála; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36885/24]

Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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I am taking this question on behalf of Deputy Devlin. I ask the Minister about the report on the temporary increase in the maximum number of ordinary members that may be appointed to the board and if he will provide a statement on the matter.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Deputy O'Sullivan. Deputy Devlin tabled the question and I thank Deputy O'Sullivan for standing in in his stead.

An Bord Pleanála, as the Deputy knows, is the national independent statutory body with responsibility for the determination of planning appeals and direct applications for strategic infrastructure and other developments under the Planning and Development Act 2000 and certain other acts. Section 104 of the Planning and Development Act as amended provides for the temporary increase in the maximum number of ordinary board members that may be appointed to the board by way of ministerial order. On 20 August this year I signed the Planning and Development (Increase in maximum number of Ordinary Board Members of An Bord Pleanála) Order 2024, which increased the maximum number from 14 to 17. This order will remain in effect until 1 January 2025. This increase in the maximum number of board members will allow for the continued support of temporary board members until year end, to assist their newly-appointed full-term colleagues through the decision-making process, while they gain much-needed experience in the role and knowledge of procedures allowing for the continued progress and the reduction of cases on hand within the board.

One area that I have engaged with the board directly on is its continued progress working through the backlogs it has. When An Bord Pleanála was going through many difficulties that were in the public domain, we had as few as five board members at one stage. We have appointed the first tranche of new board members as well. I have appointed nine new board members through the new public appointments process which was allowed for under the Act. The provision of the additional board members will allow that transition between the new board members and the temporary members who are in place, who were appointed from other areas of the Civil Service. I thank them for the work that they have done. I continue to support the board and the work it is doing to reduce the backlog and to get back to normal business where we can see planning decisions being made and being given in a very timely fashion, which has not happened heretofore in many instances. They are making progress on that backlog.

Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister. There is no need to go through the reasons why the Minister had to make that intervention. They are well documented in the media. By way of supplementary, if I could just ask in relation to the time limit. Is there a constraint on the January deadline?

Can the January deadline be extended? Is there a minimum or maximum period for further extensions if they are required?

Second, with regard to An Bord Pleanála and the way it deliberates on cases, is there any internal prioritisation of cases? For example, would there be a juxtaposition between a large scheme, such as an estate with a couple of hundred houses or an apartment block, and an individual application for a one-off home or an agricultural or commercial building? Is there any prioritisation on An Bord Pleanála's side? I find it is very haphazard. We are trying to deliver additional housing as quickly as possible, but larger schemes sometimes really go beyond 12 or 18 months. I am interested to see if there is any prioritisation.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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We can extend it past the date, should we wish. In the intervening period, I expect all permanent board members to be appointed at that stage. This is a transition period. The board is working through parallel meetings at the moment to deal with the backlog. There is a focus on residential development. An Bord Pleanála worked over a number of weeks in the summer to specifically look at backlog cases for individual houses or extensions to clear them, because right now everything is taken in chronological order. It is a great frustration to people who know that an inspector's report is being done and who have been informed by the board but then there is a delay, which is an inordinate delay in some cases, in the decision being made. Thankfully, we have seen some very large and significant decisions being made by An Bord Pleanála in recent months. It is getting to grips with the backlog on hand. An Bord Pleanála aimed to get back to normal business by the end of quarter 2. It has not met that deadline as of yet, but it is working through it. We have resourced An Bord Pleanála with more than 50% additional staff members since 2021. More work is to be done there, but it is making progress.

Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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On the backlogs, has the Minister any figures or trends regarding the work that has been done? I acknowledge the beefed-up board is only in its inception and those figures may not be available, but could the Minister provide us with any trend at the moment?

Second, I want to follow up on the question regarding prioritisation. Whether it is a matter of policy at the moment or going forward, it should be the case that larger schemes are prioritised going forward, particularly in the case of housing, as the Minister indicated. That needs to be emphasised.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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As of August 2024, An Bord Pleanála had disposed of 2,439 cases. That was an increase of 39% from the cases disposed of. Compared to August 2023, there has been nearly a 40% increase in the number of cases disposed of so we are seeing that increase.

Deputy O'Sullivan supported legislation that I brought in regarding the large-scale residential development arrangements, which came into effect on 17 December 2021. The legislation did not receive support from all sides of the House at the time, but it has really worked. Every single application bar one has met the statutory timelines set out for large-scale residential developments of in excess of 100 homes. That process has been protected and it is absolutely working. That is why the Planning and Development Bill, which will taken in the Seanad next week and which will come before this House in early October for its Final Stage, is so crucially important because it will provide statutory timelines for An Bord Pleanála. People will have certainty on timeframes, consistency of approach and clarity. That is why I expect support from all sides of the House on that reform of our planning, but Deputy Ó Broin will probably vote against it anyway.