ABP orders oral hearings in first hurdle for Iarnród Éireann's Cork rail expansion plans
Increased frequency on the East Cork rail line will impact residents on the Lower Glanmire Road; Irish Rail told T+D that it had factored in the likelihood of oral hearings in its programme of works.
An Bord Pleanála (ABP) has scheduled an oral hearing for the end of June on Irish Rail’s plans to build twin tracks from Glounthane to Midleton as the rail operator aims to ramp up frequency of the service on the East Cork rail line.
Initially, the planning authority was expected to announce a decision on May 17, but it has been postponed until August. Before that, three days of remote oral hearings will take place between June 26-28.
A spokesperson for Irish Rail told Tripe + Drisheen: “As part of the Railway Order application process, An Bord Pleanála have typically undertaken an oral hearing as part of the assessment of the application.”
“We had therefore planned within our programme for the likelihood of an oral hearing,” the spokesperson said.
Reasons?
The reasons for the oral hearing were not stated in a letter sent out to participants, but Green Party councillor Oliver Moran, who received a letter from ABP inviting him to the proceedings, said there is “a sticky issue to do with access for residents on the Lower Glanmire Road, who currently use a level crossing.”
“The frequency of service is proposed to increase to every five minutes, and these works will enable that. If that was the case then the barrier at that level crossing would in effect constantly be down for those residents.”
Cllr Moran wrote about this issue in his submission, and said he will be presenting the residents’ case at the hearing, but added that he will also be “emphasising that the decision on the railway order must be made without delay.”
“Otherwise, it risks not meeting deadlines for European funding.”
Trouble at the Board
According to An Bord Pleanála, oral hearings are a public meeting about an ABP case that anyone can attend, although not everyone can participate in the discussion. “The purpose of an oral hearing is to allow further discussion and examination of relevant issues that may arise in a case before An Bord Pleanála. It is not intended to be overly formal or legalistic.”
Last year Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage Darragh O’Brien referred a report on certain decisions made by ABP to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), an Garda Síochána and the Standards in Public Office (SIPO).
The deputy chair of An Bord Pleanála, Paul Hyde, resigned his position in July, 2022 following the appointment by the government of a senior lawyer to investigate allegations that Cork-born Mr Hyde had failed to declare conflicts of interest in a number of planning decisions.
As a result of a review of ABP by the Office of the Planning Regulator (OPR), the board is to be scrapped and replaced with a new statutory body to be known as An Coimisiún Pleanála.
Speaking at a planning conference in Tipperary last month, Oonagh Buckley, the interim chairperson of An Bord Pleanála described introducing changes at ABP as “designing the plane while flying it”.
Irish Rail in its statement to T+D said that oral hearings provide the public with further participation in the decision-making process for this project.
“As with any planning process, the authority for the final decision, and any conditions attaching to it, resides with the relevant planning body, in this case An Bord Pleanála.”
Cllr Moran said that instead of being “shovel ready next week, we're looking at delays of up to two years because of one state body.”
