"Something broken" in An Bórd Pleanála, Cork anti-incinerator group says

CHASE Cork have called for the "objective bias" of an ABP member found by a judge in their case to be investigated as part of the ABP probe ordered by the housing minister this week.

CHASE Cork environmental activists at a protest in 2016. Photo via CHASE Facebook page.

Cork harbour environmental group CHASE have called for the ministerial investigation into conflict of interest by one member of An Bórd Pleanála, ordered by housing minister Darragh O’Brien this week, to be expanded to include “objective bias” by another member of An Bórd Pleanála in their case.

A probe will take place into potential conflicts of interest involving the current Deputy Chair of An Bórd Pleanála, Paul Hyde, Minister O’Brien announced on Wednesday.

But CHASE spokeswoman Mary O’Leary told Tripe + Drisheen that she would like their case, in which a judge ruled that a preceding Deputy Chair, Conall Boland, was biased because he had previously worked on behalf of incinerator company Indaver Ireland, to also be investigated.

“It’s really important to maintain public confidence in the planning process,” Mrs O’Leary said. “People need to see that the planning process is fair to everybody.”

“In our case, as far as I am aware, nobody ever did anything about looking at the implications of the ruling of objective bias; I don’t know why the Minister didn’t look into that situation. He might want to include it in his investigation.”

Deputy Chairs

It has emerged that current Deputy Chair of ABP Mr Hyde, from Carrigtwohill, failed to declare conflicts of interest when voting on what now appears to be numerous planning applications with the potential to impact land and businesses owned by himself, his father and his brother.

He voted against a housing development on a site next to land owned by his father in Carrigtwohill, according to website The Ditch, but had also failed to recuse himself in votes on six developments involving his brother’s fire safety firm. Five of these large housing developments are in Dublin and one is a 302 apartment development at Horgan’s Quay in Cork.

Mr Hyde also failed to declare his part-ownership of a property in Blackpool next to a site where he voted to refuse planning permission for a large apartment complex, the Examiner reported.

However, a previous Deputy Chair, Conall Boland, was found last year to have had objective bias in granting planning permission to Indaver Ireland for a 240,000 tonne incinerator in Cork Harbour in May 2018.

Mr Boland had worked for a consultancy contracted by Indaver Ireland to make Waste Management Plan submissions to Cork city and county councils in 2004.

Justice David Barniville found that this constituted grounds for bias and ruled in favour of CHASE and against An Bórd Pleanála last spring.

ABP in need of “huge reform”

Such incidents undermine community trust in how An Bórd Pleanála operates, Mrs O’Leary said. She said the planning authority was in need of “huge reform” and that the number of court cases taken against them was indicative of this.

“The question should be asked: why are so many court cases being taken against them?” she said. “People don’t take court cases lightly. It’s a very expensive process and people aren’t doing it because they have nothing else to do. They take cases when they are seriously concerned about a planning permission that’s been given.”

“Instead of saying we’ll try to stop the public from participating in the planning process, which is how the Government has responded by trying to reduce the length of time people have to lodge a legal challenge, they need to say, ‘there’s something broken here.’”

Back to An Bórd Pleanála

Despite last year’s finding of bias, CHASE were denied leave to appeal a High Court decision to refer the third Indaver Ireland planning application back to An Bórd Pleanála by the same High Court judge this week. CHASE want the application thrown out and not returned to ABP.

Mrs O’Leary said the group’s legal team were considering their options.

“Our contention is that the application is totally tainted by the involvement of Conall Boland and should be thrown out,” she said.

CHASE Cork, a lose affiliation of harbour residents from Carrigaline, Cobh, Ringaskiddy and Monkstown have been fighting planning applications by Indaver for an incinerator at the Ringaskiddy site for nearly 20 years. The current contested planning application is Indaver’s third.

The Department of Housing had not responded to a Tripe + Drisheen query on whether Justice Barniville’s ruling on bias had ever been investigated by the time of going to print. We will update when we receive a response.