A report on planning practises in six local authorities, commissioned more than two years ago, will be published next week, Minister for the Environment Alan Kelly has said.
In 2013 Jan O’Sullivan, then Minister of State for Planning, ordered an independent investigation of the planning departments of Carlow, Cork, Galway and Meath county councils, and Cork and Dublin city councils.
Her decision to seek the external investigation followed a High Court order quashing part of an earlier local authority planning review undertaken by the Department of the Environment.
The internal review was commissioned by former environment minister John Gormley in 2010 to investigate complaints made by An Taisce about planning in Dublin and Cork city councils, and Cork, Meath and Donegal county councils.
The section of the report which was expunged related to Donegal County Council and followed a settlement between the department and a former local authority planner who took a judicial review challenging the findings of the review as they related to him.
The new report was to focus on “procedures and practices” within planning authorities “rather than individual planning decisions by either the authorities themselves or An Bord Pleanála”.
Planning consultants MacCabe Durney Barnes were paid €95,000 for the report which was delivered to Mr Kelly last July, but has remained unpublished.
Speaking on the Marian Finucane programme on RTÉ Radio One Mr Kelly said the report would be published next week, along with the legislation on the establishment of an independent office of planning regulator.
“I’m not just publishing the reports, I’m also publishing the legislation to deal with many of the issues that are in the reports all in one go,” he said.
The publication of the reports had been delayed for legal reasons Mr Kelly said.
“The reason why a delay was there is due to the process you have to go through. There are people involved in these reports. I got the reports in late July and there is a process to go through with the relevant local authorities, there are legal issues you have to allow time for, that’s the only reason why.”
Speaking in relation to the RTÉ Investigates expose which filmed councillors agreeing to help a company with planning issues, in exchange for payment, Mr Kelly said the activities of those councillors were “an absolute disgrace”.
