MEMBERS of An Bord Pleanala have agreed to adopt a stringent code of conduct which would prohibit attendance at sponsored golf outings or corporate hospitality suites at Croke Park and Lansdowne Road.
The board's chairman, Mr Paddy O'Duffy, said the code - which is the most onerous and detailed in the State sector - was intended to promote public confidence in its integrity and impartiality in dealing with planning appeals.
It goes beyond both the 1992 Department of Finance ethical guidelines for State bodies and the requirements of the 1976 Planning Act regarding declaration of interests in the ownership, sale or development of land.
For example, it prohibits membership of a political party or any group which "engages in lobbying in relation to physical planning generally". It also requires each board member to make a declaration of interests every six months.
This includes the ownership of stocks and shares "exceeding £1,000 in value (as opposed to nominal value)", held by a board member or any member of his or her family, as well as any professional relationships with outside bodies.
Members are also prohibited from dealing with files relating to their own neighbourhoods, to friends or to former employers, and they are obliged to declare any such interest and absent themselves from the board meeting.
They are "not to engage in conduct which is dishonest or which may otherwise bring the standing of the board into disrepute"
including disclosure of background information about its appeal decisions or how they were made.
The code reiterates that it is illegal for anyone to communicate with the chairman or other member of the board with a view to "influencing improperly" its decisions and that they have a duty not to entertain such communications.
Mr O'Duffy, a former assistant secretary in the Department of the Environment said this rule had been applied within the past year to two letters from other Departments which had arrived late, after the period for making submissions.
