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    • An Bord Pleanála’s manifest ethical weakness in perspective • The planning appeals board, An Bord Pleanála, has been brought into disrepute by its deputy chairperson’s property deals, by his criminal failed declarations of property interests and mishandled conflicts of interests, and by his receiverships.  He must go.   System of Planning Appeals The 1963 Planning Act prescribed that planning appeals from local authorities would be decided by the Minister for Local Government.   An Bord Pleanála formed After years of unease with the corruptible system that resulted, An Bord Pleanála (ABP) was established in 1977 under the Local Government (Planning and Development) Act, 1976 and has ever since been responsible for the determination of appeals and certain other matters under the Planning and Development Acts 2000-2019, and of applications for strategic infrastructure development including major road and railway cases.   It is an independent, statutory, quasi-judicial body.   Change to system of appointment of ABP members Board members were directly appointed by the Minister until 1983 when the system was reformed following unease with appointments of acolytes, including his own constituency advisor, by corrupt Minister Ray Burke in the golden era of Fianna Fáil-led planning corruption.   The reforms established a new ‘arms’ length’ approach where members of the board, who take the decisions,  are appointed by a committee chaired by the President of the High Court and selected by different interest groups. When I was chairman of An Taisce I was ex officio on the committee that appointed the chairman in 2002 and I can vouch for the thoroughness of the interview process. Mind you, the system does favour the Minister’s, or at least the Department’s,  preferred candidate since the Department’s Secretary General is always a force on the committee,  hosts the meetings and reads the rules.   The membership of the board, which is based in Marlborough St in Dublin 1, is determined by the Planning and Development Acts.   A Chairperson of the board holds office for seven years and can be re-appointed for a second or subsequent term of office. The Chairperson is appointed by the Government.   ABP’s performance In 2020, the board received a total of 2,753 cases. Planning appeals (1,956 cases) accounted for over 71% of all cases received in 2020, with two-thirds of all appeals relating to residential developments. Only 47% of all appeals are taken by third parties (i.e. not developers/applicants). The chart below shows that ABP overturns local authorities’ decisions in 27% of cases, varies them in 47% of cases and confirms them in 26% of cases.  It grants permission in 65% of cases and refuses it in 35% of cases. Compliance with ABP’s 18-week-decision target continued in an upward trend from 39% in 2018 to 69% in 2019, and 76% in 2020. Legal challenges Between 2017 and 2020, the number of legal challenges brought against decisions of An Bord Pleanála increased by 74%. An Bord Pleanála’s rulings were successfully challenged in 63% of High Court cases in 2020, according to the planning body’s annual report.   There were 51 legal cases in 2020 and the board lost 32. ABP’s legal costs were  €8.2m in 2020, more than twice the figure for 2019. The figure was similar in 2021. Legal costs scandalously account for almost half ABP’s public funding and 30 percent of its total budget.     In 19 cases the High Court quashed the planning permission while in 13 cases the board admitted to defects in its decision-making process.   Only 11 decisions were upheld while another eight were discontinued or withdrawn.   The Bord has a terrible track record with controversial SHD (Strategic Housing Development) – large-scale residential applications which bypass local authorities. However, the percentage of overall planning decisions that are subject of legal challenge annually remains very small (only 0.3% in 2020) and only 0.07% of decisions were overturned by the courts.   Financing ABP’s income in 2019 totalled €28 million. Just over €6 million, or 23%, was comprised of fee receipts. Grant funding issued from government amounted to €18.6 million in 2019. Expenditure on salaries and related costs amounted to €16.2 million, representing approximately two thirds of the board’s expenditure in 2019. It had 175.3 whole-time equivalent staff and nine board members.   Expenditure on legal fees amounted to €8.2 million. The balance of expenditure of €5.4 million related to premises and other operating expenses. The surplus for the year was €2.8 million.   Quality of decisions The current board is particularly pro-development.  Partly this is driven by edicts, for example on height, density and small apartment sizes, which bind it.  The board has always tended to apply local authority development plan standards more stringently than the local authorities themselves. This is because it is not subject to the parochial lobbyings of county councillors.   For a long time that led ABP to higher standards than those of local authorities.  However, since the time of former Fine Gael housing minister Eoghan Murphy and his predecessor Labour’s Alan Kelly, in particular, national standards have been lower than those local authorities would like to apply, and the era of a stringent ABP pushing an official government agenda of sustainable development has passed.   Membership of board The Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government appoints up to nine ordinary board members, including the deputy chairperson, plus the chairperson, making ten members (there is one current vacancy). Normally, board members are proposed by four groups of organisations representing professional, environmental, development, local government, rural and local development and general interests. Sometimes, one member of the board can be a civil servant appointed by the Minister. Ordinary board members normally hold office for five years and can be re-appointed for a second or subsequent term.   Its Chairperson is Dave Walsh who was appointed for the period of seven years in October, 2018. He had been Assistant Secretary in the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, with primary responsibility for planning policy, including