An Bord Pleánála is to no longer deal with planning cases in a chronological order in a fresh bid to address the board's backlog of cases.
In a statement, the recently appointed chairman of An Bord Pleánála, Peter Mullan has issued an apology on behalf of the appeals board to those whose appeals or applications have been delayed.
The statement on An Bord Pleánála's website explains that "there has been a significant turnover of personnel at board level in the organisation over recent months"
It states that "this has resulted in restricted capacity at board level and a consequent backlog of cases for determination. Fifteen board members have now been appointed and recruitment of additional resources is progressing. This will provide the necessary capacity to address current delays in determining cases over time".
The statement points out that "there are different types of cases before the board for determination" and the board "will be applying different prioritisation to those cases and will therefore not deal with cases in chronological order".
It states that the board "has decided that this is the best way to manage its backlog in the most effective way possible".
A spokeswoman for the appeals board on Friday said that there are currently 2,258 cases on hand which is down 11% from the beginning of 2024.
She said that this is down from 3,613 cases on hand in May 2023 which included approximately 600 Residential Zoned Land Tax cases.
The spokeswoman said that the cases on hand include 56 Strategic Housing Developments (SHDs) applications.
She said: "It is anticipated that a number of these cases will be decided in the coming months, while a number of others are affected by certain legal issues in relation to the development plan cycle."
On staffing levels, the spokeswoman said that there has been "an increase in staffing in the Inspectorate from 66 at the end of February 2023 to 86 at the end of February 2024, which includes three specialist posts".
She said: "In addition, Inspector recruitment is ongoing via formal competitions, with an expectation that a further 15 – 20 Inspector positions will be filled by the end of Q2 2024."
The appeals board statement concludes by thanking people for their patience "while we work as expeditiously as possible to fully clear the backlog of cases over the coming period".
Reporting by Gordon Deegan
