Why did Phil Hogan stop 5 seperate planning enquiries?

Drumpot

http://www.broadsheet.ie/2012/03/27/why-did-phil-hogan-stop-five-separate-planning-inquiries/

Why did Phil Hogan stop 5 seperate planning enquiries?

This is the kind of question that is being ignored by our absentee electorate that failed to ask similar kinds of questions of our previous government and where did that get us ?

Fool me once, shame on you. . Fool my twice, three times, four . . . . Shame on us all . .

later12

Apparently the inquiries have not been stopped, there is going to be an internal investigation.

Anyone who is interested in governmental corruption (i.e. the study of it!) ought to be eternally perturbed by two of the most horrid words that were ever placed side by side in the English language: "internal investigation".

There may well turn out to be no basis for the allegations referred to. Fantastic. But transparency is important. Corruption thrives on strongly discretionary institutions kept in check by weak, opaque institutions.

Mahon wrote a big book on this. I think there was something about it on the news.

rodento

Mahon wrote a book, yawn...

Has he proved anything beyond reasonable doubt, is infact anything in the report worth 300 mill:eek:

In Ireland we are inocent until proven guilty, nothing in the tribunal changes that

Scofflaw

rodento wrote: »

Mahon wrote a book, yawn...

Has he proved anything beyond reasonable doubt, is infact anything in the report worth 300 mill:eek:

In Ireland we are inocent until proven guilty, nothing in the tribunal changes that

If people paid attention to the substance of Mahon, and used it to help change the system for the better - as opposed to using it for a round of "you're dirtier than we are" point-scoring - then it would be well worth the cost.

cordially,
Scofflaw

later12

Olivia O'Leary had an interesting radio commentary on political corruption on Drive Time

http://www.rte.ie/radio1/drivetime/
Available on 1:13 mins into the latest show.

rodento

Scofflaw wrote: »

If people paid attention to the substance of Mahon, and used it to help change the system for the better - as opposed to using it for a round of "you're dirtier than we are" point-scoring - then it would be well worth the cost.

cordially,
Scofflaw

So will any the planning decisions found to be questionable be reversed:eek:

Nuff Said

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2012/0327/1224313953846.html

Mr.Micro

Drumpot wrote: »

http://www.broadsheet.ie/2012/03/27/why-did-phil-hogan-stop-five-separate-planning-inquiries/

Why did Phil Hogan stop 5 seperate planning enquiries?

This is the kind of question that is being ignored by our absentee electorate that failed to ask similar kinds of questions of our previous government and where did that get us ?

Fool me once, shame on you. . Fool my twice, three times, four . . . . Shame on us all . .

I was disgusted to learn that. Carlow COCO needs to be investigated. Maybe there are too many dodgy FG councillors in Carlow that would prove embarrassing for Mr. Hogan.

woodoo

Mr.Micro wrote: »

I was disgusted to learn that. Carlow COCO needs to be investigated. Maybe there are too many dodgy FG councillors in Carlow that would prove embarrassing for Mr. Hogan.

If that is the case and Phil has dropped the investigations because of this. Then that would be a massive scandal. I don't trust the man at all.

Cardinal Richelieu

Mr.Micro wrote: »

I was disgusted to learn that. Carlow COCO needs to be investigated. Maybe there are too many dodgy FG councillors in Carlow that would prove embarrassing for Mr. Hogan.

Some of those councillors involved with the 5 councils now sit in the Dail as FG TDs, much more potential for embarrassment.

moceri

"An inquiry into whether there should be an inquiry." ; sounds like a quote from the script of "Yes Minister".

bijapos

Drumpot wrote: »

Why did Phil Hogan stop 5 seperate planning enquiries?

Because he smells trouble for FG and wants to postpone any enquiry results for as long as possible, in fact he is probably going to bury it in the near future. I've said it time and time again, when it comes to dodgy rezonings FG are as bad, and at times worse than FF.

This story isn't new either, it was buried in the news months ago and the media doesn't seem to have picked it up. Trying to stop these investigations was one of the first things that Hogan did as Minister, dodgy isn't the word for it.

Interesting comment in that link that the OP gave from someone called Ryan Meade who seems to be in the Greens:

Ryan Meade on March 27, 2012 at 11:37 am said:
Kelly: “The reason that it was changed was simply because [former Enviornment] Minister [John] Gormley announced them and then for a year did nothing. So that was the reason that it had to be looked at by the new Government, because nothing happened in a year. So it has been looked at and now it’s going to be advanced and it has to be…”

This is impressively close to the opposite of the truth. When the new Government took office they had in front of them:

a) an extensive dossier prepared by planning officials in the Department following an internal review of the complaints;
b) a series of reports from the Managers in each of the local authorities submitted in response to a formal request from the Minister using his statutory powers under the Planning and Development Acts;
c) terms of reference for a panel of planning consultants to carry out independent reviews in the six local authorities;
d) a completed tender process to select this panel of consultants;
e) letters of appointment ready to be issued to the members of the panel.

Instead of issuing the letters (which had been approved by Minister Gormley but held back by the Department following his resignation), Phil Hogan decided to wind the process right back to the “internal review”, even though such a review had already been completed as far back as 2009.

So we have now been waiting nine months for Phil Hogan to produce the results of something that was already done three years ago.

Sierra Oscar

Why is Phil Hogan still a senior government minister, considering the fact that his evidence to the Moriarty Tribunal was utterly rejected?

Who knows . . .

LostinKildare

Sierra Oscar wrote: »

Why is Phil Hogan still a senior government minister, considering the fact that his evidence to the Moriarty Tribunal was utterly rejected?

He's the Irish Dick Cheney. Remember how he ushered Enda through the failed FG coup attempt?


Carlow(-Kilkenny) is his own constituency. Hogan is a former Kilkenny county councillor and local auctioneer/estate agent. To my mind, that itself shouldn't be permitted --- that an auctioneer should be voting on land rezonings.

I think probably every co council should be looked at. And I don't buy that internal investigations are at all sufficient, or that they will be delivered "shortly." In Kildare we were promised an internal report into the planning irregularities surrounding the quarry at the Hill of Allen "shortly" --- back in 2007. And that was by a Green minister!

MadsL

One word. Meath.

Dear God was there every a bunch of clowns in that neck of the woods. At one point they pulled An Taisce into a Government committee claiming that An Taisce were encouraging drug use by opposing the demolition of protected structures in Kells that were being used by junkies. You couldn't make it up.

They managed to rezone enough land in Meath to cater for a population of 242,000 compared to 163,000 in the county in 2005. It overzoned by a factor of 61 times requirements. It had land for 124,173 houses but only needed 2,023.

In response to resistance on zoning One Councillor even called An Taisce 'murderers and plunderers of jobs in the county,' and 'industrial terrorists'

Whilst that particular Councillor was FF and Meath was FF until 2009, I suspect some FG fingers in pies that Hogan may not want investigated.

Fratton Fred

Scofflaw wrote: »

If people paid attention to the substance of Mahon, and used it to help change the system for the better - as opposed to using it for a round of "you're dirtier than we are" point-scoring - then it would be well worth the cost.

cordially,
Scofflaw

There is a lot of (totally understandable) finger pointing at a few individuals since the publication of the report, but hanging them and ignoring the fact that the whole culture of politics, from the town halls to the senate, appears corrupt, is a complete waste of €300m

kippy

Fratton Fred wrote: »

There is a lot of (totally understandable) finger pointing at a few individuals since the publication of the report, but hanging them and ignoring the fact that the whole culture of politics, from the town halls to the senate, appears corrupt, is a complete waste of €300m

The political points scoring, and complete disregard for what came out of this report is just disgusting. The seemingly endless stream of FF and it appears FG politicians "falling on their sword" and resigning from their parties is just sad. I mean, do these guys think that that is enough? Do they think that the electorate believe that the worst possible thing that can happen a politican is a resignation from his party? Yet again, politicians getting out before they are pushed out and the party putting the party before the good of the country.
I have to be honest I amn't too aware of the facts of these planning enquiries but the fact that they are now gone to an "internal enquiry" is worrying.

Yet again, the mahon, the moriarty and indeed instances such as these should that either CAB, or a specialist section of the Gardai with proper resources should investigate fully and in public as much as possible, allegations of this nature.

Drumpot

MadsL wrote: »

One word. Meath.

Dear God was there every a bunch of clowns in that neck of the woods. At one point they pulled An Taisce into a Government committee claiming that An Taisce were encouraging drug use by opposing the demolition of protected structures in Kells that were being used by junkies. You couldn't make it up.

They managed to rezone enough land in Meath to cater for a population of 242,000 compared to 163,000 in the county in 2005. It overzoned by a factor of 61 times requirements. It had land for 124,173 houses but only needed 2,023.

In response to resistance on zoning One Councillor even called An Taisce 'murderers and plunderers of jobs in the county,' and 'industrial terrorists'

Whilst that particular Councillor was FF and Meath was FF until 2009, I suspect some FG fingers in pies that Hogan may not want investigated.

I live in an estate in Bettystown, Co Meath . . Spoke to a newly elected local councellor who said they used to play when they were younger in the field where my house is built. The knickname for where my estate was built is "frog marsh". In the 6 years I have lived here, it has flooded in 4 of them (we got the lame excuse "50 year rainfall", then "100 year rainfall" yadda yadda yadda). The local councellor (yet to be corrupted by the culture they have joined!) said that it was literally criminal how anybody could zone this land for building.

I have been saying for years (see my signature below) that I couldnt understand why Country Councellors had been getting such an easy ride, considering they were up to no good themselves!

Im just sick at the thought of these characters and extremely dissapointed that nobody in government has stood up to this cover up.

kippy

Drumpot wrote: »

I live in an estate in Bettystown, Co Meath . . Spoke to a newly elected local councellor who said they used to play when they were younger in the field where my house is built. The knickname for where my estate was built is "frog marsh". In the 6 years I have lived here, it has flooded in 4 of them (we got the lame excuse "50 year rainfall", then "100 year rainfall" yadda yadda yadda). The local councellor (yet to be corrupted by the culture they have joined!) said that it was literally criminal how anybody could zone this land for building.

I have been saying for years (see my signature below) that I couldnt understand why Country Councellors had been getting such an easy ride, considering they were up to no good themselves!

Im just sick at the thought of these characters and extremely dissapointed that nobody in government has stood up to this cover up.

There has been little or no attempt to reform the seanad, tha dail and local government is only getting tokenised "reform".
It pains me to see the complete inefectiveness/uselessness of the local governance here in Galway. Minutes and decisions from council meetings are oftentimes farcical. Too many councilors, claiming wages, expenses and benefits, who do very little for the overall good of the place, whose main aim is to reach higher office. They've had too much power for too long and less accountability than your standard politician.

Mr.Micro

Cardinal Richelieu wrote: »

Some of those councillors involved with the 5 councils now sit in the Dail as FG TDs, much more potential for embarrassment.

In our community here we have first hand experience of planning skulduggery re Carlow CoCo. Rotten to the core, IMO. Hogan better get his act together and get this sorted.

one foot in the grave

Phil Hogan on Primetime last night said that it was Willie Penrose not himself who made the decision to stop the independent investigations into planning "irregularities" in Dublin and Cork City Councils and Carlow, Meath, Cork and Galway County Councils.

Minister Hogan repeated a similar line used by Alan Kelly (Lab TD) that Gormley hadn't moved on these inquiries. This review had been set up, format agreed and expert planners appointed. Gormley didn't sit on it for a year.

Looks like he (or maybe it's Jan O'Sullivan) may have no intention of allowing these investigations to continue.

So was it Labour not FG that blocked these investigations? All very confusing. What is quite clear and beggars belief is that this government post Mahon will not allow these independent investigations into planning irregularities to go ahead.

Why?

Mr.Micro

one foot in the grave wrote: »

Phil Hogan on Primetime last night said that it was Willie Penrose not himself who made the decision to stop the independent investigations into planning "irregularities" in Dublin and Cork City Councils and Carlow, Meath, Cork and Galway County Councils.

Minister Hogan repeated a similar line used by Alan Kelly (Lab TD) that Gormley hadn't moved on these inquiries. This review had been set up, format agreed and expert planners appointed. Gormley didn't sit on it for a year.

Looks like he (or maybe it's Jan O'Sullivan) may have no intention of allowing these investigations to continue.

So was it Labour not FG that blocked these investigations? All very confusing. What is quite clear and beggars belief is that this government post Mahon will not allow these independent investigations into planning irregularities to go ahead.

Why?

It s not acceptable. The Government on one hand want to collect household charge to fund the County Councils and then do not act/will not act if there is suspicion of rot. So fund these bodies from the taxpayer to continue as before, with little or no accountability? Not good enough FG/Labour or Mr. Hogan.

kippy

Mr.Micro wrote: »

It s not acceptable. The Government on one hand want to collect household charge to fund the County Councils and then do not act/will not act if there is suspicion of rot. So fund these bodies from the taxpayer to continue as before, with little or no accountability? Not good enough FG/Labour or Mr. Hogan.

Agree 100%.

one foot in the grave

Mr.Micro wrote: »

It s not acceptable. The Government on one hand want to collect household charge to fund the County Councils and then do not act/will not act if there is suspicion of rot. So fund these bodies from the taxpayer to continue as before, with little or no accountability? Not good enough FG/Labour or Mr. Hogan.

No, it's not good enough. Are they putting their own party interests before the interests of this country?

byhookorbycrook

Classy kinda guy if the article below is true...
http://www.clarechampion.ie/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9621:crude-remark-minister-should-be-dismissed&catid=67:human-interest&Itemid=60

Lantus

We have a problem of epidemic proportions in every facet of government.

Many are for all intense purposes "untouchable" by virtue of their position, years in service and connections at the highest levels with TD's, councillers and big business. Not too mention their sheer natural ability to distort and manipulate a system that they control without any oversight or accountability from anyone except their peers who are all up to the same game.

Fixing the countries books is wasted effort unless we change the sysem that runs it.

Sir Oxman

I remember very small reports in the papers within a month of Hogan being made MoE that he had stopped the independent enquiries in favour of internal reviews.
Mr Penrose wasn't mentioned as far as I can remember.
I thought at the time that this was fishy and even fishier when one of the five was Carlow CoCo.

This one smells big time.

And I agree with a lot of posters - the mudslinging now is pathetic - action is needed urgently.
Reform - where art thou?

MadsL

Where is the investigative journalism in this country. This is crying out for exposure, yet nothing. Where has campaigning journalism and editorial gone? Michael Smith seems to be the only name out there hitting hard on this crap.

Here's a recent example on Carlow Planning Dept...

Quinlivan found that “over the years the planning directorate assumed unto itself a dominance and independence”, and this led to “a perceived culture of leniency and inaction regarding compliance with, and application of, planning law”.

Concluding that the management of the planning function “must change”, Quinlivan recommended that the planning function be performed by the county manager. Amazingly however, up until April, Mr Seamus O’Connor was still stated to be the Director for Planning on Carlow Council’s website, something which changed only after correspondence with Village Magazine.

http://www.villagemagazine.ie/index.php/2012/03/826/

MadsL

Incidentally, this particular piece of legislation is widely ignored...

The Director of Planning had unaccompanied meetings with future planning applicants – again criticised as “an unacceptable practice”, and for not recording notes of many such meetings, a breach of the law. Section 247 (5) of the Planning and Development Act 2000 provides, under penalties that extend to jail sentences, that: “The planning authority shall keep a record in writing of any consultations under this section that relate to a proposed development, including the names of those who participated in the consultations, and a copy of such record shall be placed and kept with the documents to which any planning application in respect of the proposed development relates”.

I remember one Oral Hearing on the Carlton development where Dick Glesson, the chief planner for Dublin City, was asked to produce these recorded notes of meetings with the developer on three occasions during the hearing, and gave assurances on all three occasions that they would be produced. At the end of the hearing, he apologised but assured the Inspector they would be provided. To date, to my knowledge, they have not surfaced.

How are they no consequences for this type of blatant (to be generous) mismanagement and lack of accountability for decisions make in closed door meetings with developers??? It just beggars belief in my view.

byhookorbycrook

byhookorbycrook wrote: »

Classy kinda guy if the article below is true...
http://www.clarechampion.ie/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9621:crude-remark-minister-should-be-dismissed&catid=67:human-interest&Itemid=60

Part left out of that article: Yer wans up to her neck in something like 10 investment properties. What she really means is :"When are ye bailing me out?" and he was right to tell her where to go.

The fact that the couple have so much time to spend on pursuing an off-the-cuff remark, "not being able to sleep since" etc, should all be warning flags to anyone with a brain cell or two.

LostinKildare

gambiaman wrote: »

I remember very small reports in the papers within a month of Hogan being made MoE that he had stopped the independent enquiries in favour of internal reviews.
Mr Penrose wasn't mentioned as far as I can remember.
I thought at the time that this was fishy and even fishier when one of the five was Carlow CoCo.

Not only that, Hogan was trashing the investigations as early as the day after the general election -- before he'd even taken office. It's ridiculous that now he's trying to lay this at Penrose's feet.

Tony Lowes: Do you support the investigations that Mr Gormley [recently-resigned Green Minister for the Environment] set up for certain Councils including Dublin City – and Carlow.
Phil Hogan: Spurious mostly.
Tony Lowes: If you became Minister would you allow this process to go forward?
Phil Hogan: Absolutely – I think it’s very important that we have confidence in the system of public administration at official level and political level – we learned enough in the Mahon Tribunal to know that this is important – but we’re not going to get into the political business of trying to find scapegoats for political purposes which is what ex-Minister Gormley is intending to do. I’m aware of issues that have come before Carlow County Council but on the material that has come out of the investigations to date I don’t see anything.

http://www.villagemagazine.ie/index.php/2011/03/phil-hogan-interviewed-from-current-magazine-and-tony-lowes-blog/

Mr.Micro

MadsL wrote: »

Where is the investigative journalism in this country. This is crying out for exposure, yet nothing. Where has campaigning journalism and editorial gone? Michael Smith seems to be the only name out there hitting hard on this crap.

Here's a recent example on Carlow Planning Dept...




http://www.villagemagazine.ie/index.php/2012/03/826/

All professionalism in planning laws were abandoned in Carlow. Even if the naive planner wanted to apply the rules, he/she was overruled or corrected. There was manipulation of the County development plan to suit as well. All over the rural County there are houses that would be out of place in a metropolis, and they massive, sitting in the country side completely out of character. Estates built in the middle of nowhere, with no connections to a proper sewage infrastructure or piped water for such a large number of developments.

Its a national disgrace. Its the same old people as directors, swapping departments and then back again. There is case of a road that the council used without consent and had to pay a cool €11.3 million... to settle the case.

Probe into council's 'irregular' planning decisions

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/probe-into-councils-irregular-planning-decisions-2152358.html


I think Mr. Hogan is afraid how deep the rot goes with County Councils and instead sticks his head in the sand.

MadsL

Some pressure being applied here;

I think the point about the household charge may be a good pressure point to apply to Hogan; give us an independent inquiry and we will give you the €100 household charge...

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/martina-devlin/martina-devlin-big-phil-must-risk-opening-can-of-worms-on-planning-3064935.html

With regards to Dublin, I find it of note that John Tierney immediately went on the attack when An Taisce's compliant was lodged;

Environment Minister John Gormley appointed an inspector to review Dublin City Council’s planning performance on foot of a 'dossier' compiled by An Taisce, which claimed that it was operating in breach of the city development plan.

In a letter to Mr Gormley last October, Ian Lumley and Kevin Duff of An Taisce alleged the council had 'acted systematically in disregarding' the plan, contravened ministerial planning guidelines and shown 'serious impropriety in the conduct of its functions'.
Assistant city manager Michael Stubbs, who is in charge of planning and economic development, said the council would be responding to the dossier by July 16th. Fine Gael councillor Rory McGinley said the An Taisce dossier was “over the top”.

An Taisce claimed unnamed senior officials had been 'encouraging landowners and developers to lodge planning applications [for high-rise buildings] in breach of the Dublin City Development Plan and ministerial guidelines'.

http://www.enviro-solutions.com/dailynews/050710-dcc-an-taisce-pp.htm

I personally was in a meeting where one of the developers concerned made that claim that he was encouraged to 'lodge planning applications [for high-rise buildings] in breach of the Dublin City Development Plan and ministerial guidelines' Attempts to get the minutes for those meetings failed, even after promises were made to ABP at an Oral Hearing.

Yet, Tierney responds not with co-operation and willingness to investigate; but with wrath.

Dublin's city manager has lashed the country's heritage trust, accusing it of making serious slurs against his staff and grossly misrepresenting the facts about planning in the capital.

John Tierney has accused An Taisce of writing letters filled with "substantial inaccuracies, misrepresentations and unsubstantiated allegations" to the Environment Minister.

http://www.enviro-solutions.com/dailynews/210710-dcc-an-taisce.htm

Tierney claims that this complaint contains “gross misinterpretation” of facts and slurs against the integrity of council officials. So one would think that a rebuttal on the specifics and the production of meeting notes for the meetings with developers would be the appropriate response.

The nettle Tierney fails to grasp is the fact that the An Taisce report linked to specific planning decisions shown not only to be in breach of the Dublin Development Plan, but also upheld by ABP on appeal. The 23 cases - 15 of which were overturned on appeal. Each one was documented in the complaint. To rebut this - all Tierney had to produce was the evidence.

Instead, bizarrely, Tierney seems to think he is the MoE; "Mr Tierney said he would not comment on each case because of the “legislative position” where the Minister does not involve himself in individual planning applications."

http://buckplanning.blogspot.com/2010/07/taisce-accused-of-slur-against-council.html


Again, you couldn't make it up. Don't we deserve an explanation?

MadsL

Dail debate;

http://www.kildarestreet.com/debates/?id=2012-03-28.2.0

Mr.Micro

MadsL wrote: »

Dail debate;

http://www.kildarestreet.com/debates/?id=2012-03-28.2.0

This from your link

Micheál Martin (Leader of the Opposition; Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

He stated that effective planning enforcement to ensure legislation was observed “was not in place” in Carlow.

That is absolutely true. It was a free for all in Carlow, a DIY planning for some, any building project, no matter how big or wrong, or wherever, could get the go ahead. It was like the planning department was not even there.

Unless FG sort this County Council business it will come back to haunt them.

KyussBishop

I've been mentioning in a few threads lately, some burgeoning ideas for enforced transparency on the government, and these planning meetings are a perfect example of where such transparency could be applied with extreme effectiveness.

It is so easy to do, there is no excuse not to; you would have a central public website which is a repository for all information released under transparency laws, which anyone can access without restriction.

In the case of planning cases, the meetings must not only be mandatory to record, but for the planning permissions to be valid at all, all information must be completely published online, with a grace period where people can object.


If this were enforced, and any other details in the public interest forced to be published on this repository, it would provide the public with an objective way of highlighting corruption, instead of having to rely on hearsay (even if zoning info is not published due to corruption, you can point to the fact that rezoned property is not in the repository as evidence).

It should be perfectly manageable, to have on this website, a 100% realtime system displaying the countries current property zoning for all land (e.g. as a google maps overlay), and a wiki-like system for making changes to this map, such that no change can be made without it being visible in history, and any change not on this map is 100% invalid.

It would cost money to setup in the first place, but once it is setup it would provide 100% public oversight of planning; it wouldn't be foolproof, but it would provide a pretty strong system.

MadsL

KyussBishop wrote: »

I've been mentioning in a few threads lately, some burgeoning ideas for enforced transparency on the government, and these planning meetings are a perfect example of where such transparency could be applied with extreme effectiveness.

It is so easy to do, there is no excuse not to; you would have a central public website which is a repository for all information released under transparency laws, which anyone can access without restriction.

In the case of planning cases, the meetings must not only be mandatory to record, but for the planning permissions to be valid at all, all information must be completely published online, with a grace period where people can object.


If this were enforced, and any other details in the public interest forced to be published on this repository, it would provide the public with an objective way of highlighting corruption, instead of having to rely on hearsay (even if zoning info is not published due to corruption, you can point to the fact that rezoned property is not in the repository as evidence).

It should be perfectly manageable, to have on this website, a 100% realtime system displaying the countries current property zoning for all land (e.g. as a google maps overlay), and a wiki-like system for making changes to this map, such that no change can be made without it being visible in history, and any change not on this map is 100% invalid.

It would cost money to setup in the first place, but once it is setup it would provide 100% public oversight of planning; it wouldn't be foolproof, but it would provide a pretty strong system.

AGREED!!

Dublin city used to have an excellent mapping system because you could see previous permissions online easily, as well as new applications. They tinkered with it, broke it, fixed it, broke it again, now are on about the fourth different system in as many years.

Their planning search will now not work on keyworks nor will it search and sort by application date.

The fact that every county council have their own IT systems for planning is absurd as well, and still not all have this online. One centralised system operating on the same systems would save millions in server and support costs.

As to 100% public oversight of planning - could we then stop vilifying people who volunteer to spend considerable hours trying the plug the gap that is left by the fact that there is no planning ombudsman or regulator - just an appeals process. We just saw this Thursday a Councillor in Galway going off on Galway FM with the most absurd allegations about those who tackle planning matters locally.

MadsL

Press Release 31st March 2012
“Why we called for the Investigation of Dublin City Council’s Planning Record – An Taisce”
The publication of the Mahon report has seen renewed calls for investigations into the planning matters of local authorities by An Taisce and others. In 2009 An Taisce called for the investigation of Dublin City Council’s planning record and subsequently it became one of seven local authorities under investigation by former minister for the environment John Gormley, this initiative being later reduced to an in-house investigated by his successor, Phil Hogan, which is a matter of some current political concern.

In the case of Dublin City Council, the issue at play was the extraordinary number of its major planning decisions subsequently overturned or substantially changed on appeal. Its appalling planning record was the subject of a dossier complaint by An Taisce in 2009, detailing 23 cases where its decisions clearly conflicted with the City Development Plan and/or Architectural Heritage Guidelines.

The economic boom in Dublin was an unprecedented period. With reckless bank lending came an onslaught of over-scaled and over-dense development proposals for over-valued sites in Dublin city centre. Through the exercise of its prescribed body role, An Taisce was afforded a unique insight on the whole process.

The record shows that, instead of carefully guiding proposals to ensure proper planning and sustainable development, Dublin City Council systemically disregarded its own Development Plan and other guidelines by approving the majority of development in this period, with An Bord Pleanála acting as a sort of safety valve to curtail and overturn its worst excesses.

It was vitally important that there was a body such as An Taisce to monitor what was going on during this period and send plans to appeal, if necessary, to An Bord Pleanála, who are the final decision makers in planning.

A great defining characteristic of inner-city Dublin is its historic or “human” scale – street after street with a consistent four- to five-storey building scale, occasionally punctuated by larger public buildings and churches - an enviable characteristic for any old city to maintain and worth jealously guarding.

Dublin’s north and south Georgian cores are an internationally significant historic urban area, and led in 2009 to Dublin’s submission for consideration to the international heritage body UNESCO.

For these reasons, the scale and character of the historic city is afforded significant protection through the designations of Conservation Areas, Protected Structures, archaeological zones and building height restriction.

But time and time again during the boom, Dublin City Council accommodated and even encouraged development proposals grossly out of proportion to their surroundings and in breach of the Development Plan, including several high-rise buildings within the historic city core.

As part of a major planned redevelopment of Arnotts department store, Henry Street (in 2006), it permitted a sixteen-storey tower at the corner of Middle Abbey Street and Upper Liffey Street (reduced to a six/seven-storey scale on appeal) in breach of the high buildings restriction for the city centre.

Its approval of the ‘park in the sky’ for the former Carlton Cinema site on Upper O’Connell Street in 2008 was also reversed by An Bord Pleanála, who cited the policy for the Architectural Conservation Area that new development should respect the established scale, as well as changing numerous other features of the scheme for this key site incorporating the 1916 National Monument at Moore Street.

Also overturned on appeal was the permission given by the City Council for an eleven-storey tower on the site of the former Motor Taxation Office on Chancery Street, soaring above the great drum and dome of the Four Courts, as well as many other schemes in locations like Smithfield, Infirmary Road, Parkgate Street, Bridgefoot Street, the Digital Hub, Fleet Street, Harcourt Terrace`and Hatch Street Lower.

In Dublin 4, City Council approvals for high-profile redevelopments of the former Jury's Hotel and Veterinary College sites, which had changed hands for record sums of money, were substantially amended or refused by An Bord Plenála in order to comply with the provisions of the City Development Plan.

The intervention of An Taisce in protecting the scale and harmony of the city in this period was vital and especially if Dublin is to join the select company of Venice, Rome, Prague, Vienna and, nearer to it, its two great sister Georgian cities, Bath and Edinburgh, as a World Heritage Site.

An Taisce Ends

Download Dossier complaint re Dublin City Council planning decisions - An Taisce 2009.pdf

one foot in the grave

later12 wrote: »

Apparently the inquiries have not been stopped, there is going to be an internal investigation.

Anyone who is interested in governmental corruption (i.e. the study of it!) ought to be eternally perturbed by two of the most horrid words that were ever placed side by side in the English language: "internal investigation".

There may well turn out to be no basis for the allegations referred to. Fantastic. But transparency is important. Corruption thrives on strongly discretionary institutions kept in check by weak, opaque institutions.

Mahon wrote a big book on this. I think there was something about it on the news.

It's getting more and more fishy.

Stephen O'Brien (Political Editor) reporting in The Sunday Times today claims to have seen files showing that senior officials in the Department of the Environment have now found no evidence of "corruption or maladministration" in the seven counties identified by Gormley (these were identified after a previous internal review in 2010 ordered by Gormley).

No grounds for an independent planning investigations have been found.

John Burke in the Sunday Business Post reports that Gormley was considering using specially appointed officers to compel certain evidence that would not have been available to an internal departmental inquiry without specific ministerial intervention.

He also reports that no additional interviews or documentation have been sought from officials at Carlow County Council in the lifetime of this current government.

Either Mahon was way way off the mark or .........?

dacoll1

Phil Hogan won't investigate because Fine Gael are as bad as Fianna Fail and turkeys don't vote for Christmas. If they ever get around to it then Donegal needs investigated as well with special emphasis on Inishowen and the goings on that happened there and is still happening.

femur61

dacoll1 wrote: »

Phil Hogan won't investigate because Fine Gael are as bad as Fianna Fail and turkeys don't vote for Christmas. If they ever get around to it then Donegal needs investigated as well with special emphasis on Inishowen and the goings on that happened there and is still happening.

It is very suspect, but then again if he had something to hide he wouldn't have displayed such arrogance during household tax debacle , mind you didn't P. Flynn show similar arrogance.

Sierra Oscar

There are some explosive revelations about Phil Hogan in today's Examiner on the front-page. It turns out that he held a comprehensive meeting with Michael Lowry immediately after the publication of the Moriarty Tribunal, the longest meeting he has held with a TD to date.

Cardinal Richelieu

Turning out to be FG worst performing Minister, he had the septic tank charge and the Household Charge to deliver and messed up both. Communication management was terrible.

When does Enda start his famous pre-election promise of performance reviews? Or is that one of these election promises that Enda hopes we forget?

Mr.Micro

Cardinal Richelieu wrote: »

Turning out to be FG worst performing Minister, he had the septic tank charge and the Household Charge to deliver and messed up both. Communication management was terrible.

When does Enda start his famous pre-election promise of performance reviews? Or is that one of these election promises that Enda hopes we forget?

There appears to be a terrible arrogance about Phil Hogan. He has lost his lustre and will only decline further in peoples opinion if he continues to be high and mighty.

WolfgangWeisen

I'm a Fine Gael supporter and have voted for them since I could, however I do not trust Phil Hogan. He has made a mess of a number of things now, has driven public resentment against both the party and government and has carried it with an air of ungiving arrogance.

If Enda keeps him in the seat, he'll be the undoing of all the good work Fine Gael have done to grow the party since their last time in Government.

woodoo

I think Phil Hogan is bad news. I wouldn't trust him in the slightest. Complete hypocrite (Portuguese holiday home tax??) and a nasty piece of work if you ask me.

Sierra Oscar

Planning review finds 'no abuses'

The investigations have now been officially torpedoed - the story has managed to sneak through amid the Wallace scandal and the growing Eurozone crisis.

Phil Hogan is likely to say that he has been up every tree in Dublin and beyond and could not find any evidence of wrongdoing. The more cynical minded argue that perhaps the investigations were getting too close to certain quarters for certain individuals.

You can be sure it will all come out eventually anyways - it always does.

MadsL

Sierra Oscar wrote: »

Planning review finds 'no abuses'

The investigations have now been officially torpedoed - the story has managed to sneak through amid the Wallace scandal and the growing Eurozone crisis.

Phil Hogan is likely to say that he has been up every tree in Dublin and beyond and could not find any evidence of wrongdoing. The more cynical minded argue that perhaps the investigations were getting too close to certain quarters for certain individuals.

You can be sure it will all come out eventually anyways - it always does.

...and Ireland remains morally as well as financially bankrupt. Shame on Hogan, he was spoonfed instances of highly questionable planning decisions and shat himself at the thought of having to turn in his own. FG just put the cherry on the top of sentiment that they are just a dodgy as FF.

Pathetic lack of backbone.

one foot in the grave

Minister Jan O'Sullivan said the review's findings vindicated the decision of her predecessor, Minister Willie Penrose, not to “rush headlong into appointing seven external planning consultants to embark on costly, open-ended inquiries.” RTE news reported that Minister Jan O’Sullivan said that the review had found no evidence of criminality or corruption, but had found areas that were not well administered.

Labour Minister Joan Burton, after the Mahon Trirunal Report was published, said that the basic rules of planning were contravened due to the corruption which permeated the various levels of the process. So, which is it?

Absolutely disgraceful decision by Fine Gael and Labour.

Wider Road

Where is Raymon & co when you need them?

raymon

Thanks wider road

I am equally disgusted by this .

Just because I dislike corrupt FF practices doesn't mean that I condone corruption by other parties.

I challenge anyone with info to go to the Gardai without delay, rather than hint and make veiled references .

Why is this not happening ???

Let's get them convicted of something whoever it is.

MadsL

raymon wrote: »

Why is this not happening ???
.

Because it will take a widespread root and branch investigation to uncover all the planning abuses. Gardai will not be able to act unless they have hard evidence, the abuses are the soft corruption culture built up over the years.