Fifty UK planners have been hired by An Bord Pleanala on a fee-per-case basis to help clear a backlog of planning appeals, its chairman, Mr John O'Connor, has revealed.
In addition, over half of the tenders received by the board to provide planning reports on appeal files in batches of 30 are from planning consultancy firms based in the UK.
The need to look abroad arises from a shortage of professional planners in Ireland, which Mr O'Connor described as a "very serious constraint" at a seminar organised by McCann FitzGerald, solicitors.
He said the board had strengthened its management structures to deal with "a challenge of unprecedented magnitude" in fulfilling its new functions under the Planning Act 2000.
This follows the transfer of the power to An Bord Pleanala to determine compulsory purchase orders in relation to major roads and other infrastructure projects being planned by local authorities. Mr O'Connor said the board was confident it could meet the time limit of 18 weeks in the majority of these cases. It had appointed a panel of 12 inspectors to deal with them.
He estimated there would be 60 oral hearings this year on infrastructural projects, including 19 scheduled in the next two months on roads, housing and water treatment projects. These include the Ballyshannon bypass in Co Donegal, the Waterford bypass, the Outer Ring Road in South Dublin, the Bundoran water treatment works and major housing schemes in Fingal and Dublin city. "The board is acutely aware of the need for speed and efficiency. . . if the ambitious targets of the National Development Plan are to be achieved," he told the seminar.
The board's approach would be based on independence, impartiality and openness. There was an onus on local authorities to make projects stand up to "rigorous environmental scrutiny".
The Government had approved a review of its structures and staffing. He said the board received "excellent co-operation" from the Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, in providing extra resources to enable it to discharge new functions.
An increase in staffing had been approved pending the outcome of the review. The board's budget had been increased by 87 per cent (£9 million) this year, Mr O'Connor said.
