Minister O’Sullivan that is simply incorrect. As a private sector Planner involved in the procurement process here is what actually happened. After Minister Gormley called in a series of Development Plans due to excessive and unsustainable zonings, he set about amending the Planning & Development Act and the amended legislation was enacted in 2010. In parallel the Minister had commenced an investigation process under 255(4) of the Planning & Development Act  to review the planning function of a series of planning authorities namely Carlow, Dublin, Cork City, Cork County, Meath and Galway on foot of a series of complaints he had received from the public and An Taisce. Normally these complaints would be referred back to the planning authority. However, the Minister asked the Department to examine the complaints and given their findings he determined that further independent investigation was required. In June 2010 Minister Gormley announces the commencement of the reviews and using powers under section 255 of the Planning and Development Acts, he requested that Carlow, Dublin, Cork City, Cork County, Galway and Meath provide him with a formal report responding to the issues raised. The responses were received in July and in September 2010 a invitation to tender was issued inviting planning consultants to tender to be appointed to a panel of planning consultants charged with independently reviewing the complaints.  My former company, a planning consultancy, amongst many others invested a significant amount of time in developing our tender proposal, which was submitted in late October. Thereafter we received correspondence advising that the tenders were being reviewed. We followed up with phone calls and prior to the Minister leaving office in January 2011, we had been advised that the panel of planners had been agreed by the Minister and the Department would be issuing letters confirming consultants appointments imminently. Then the Government fell and the next we know is that Minister Phil Hogan has scrapped in the independent investigations to be undertaken by planning consultants and instead is going to undertake an internal review, which wouldn’t be published and this is meant to be ongoing. However, the internal investigation was done before and this demonstrated that independent investigation was necessary. So Ministers O’Sullivan and Hogan, if there is nothing to hide have the independent investigation!

“Minister Phil Hogan has scrapped the independent investigations to be undertaken by planning consultants and instead is going to undertake an internal review, which wouldn’t be published and this is meant to be ongoing”

So if I have this right….there was an internal investigation under 255(4). Anomalies were discovered which lead Mr Gormley to request reports from said councils and also commenced with a tender process to facilitate an independent investigation. Cut now to a change of government which effectively scrapped a tender process that Sullivan tells us here DID NOT EXIST and replaced it with another internal review, which will NOT be subject to publication.

If Ms Charles version of events is correct, and there is every chance that they may very easily be substantiated with an FOI, both Hogan and Sullivan are in essence in the process of covering up what was discovered as a consequence of an internal investigation that Sullivan claims never commenced in the first place.

So, according to Sullivan and Hogan, Gormley did not commence an investigation process under 255(4) of the Planning & Development Act, there were no findings, there was nothing submitted by any of the respective councils with regard the matter and Alison Charles made all of this up.

Any self respecting investigative journalist would be completely nuts to pass on an opportunity like this.

As a private sector planning consultant, I concur with Alice’s account of events. Our consultancy also submitted a tender at the time. A copy of the original tender notice from Sept 2010 is available to view on the eTenders website:

http://www.etenders.gov.ie/search/show/search_view.aspx?ID=SEP173275

Click on “Full Notice Text” for full details.

excellent post by alice and an excellent follow up from hairy date. but why do they not appear in the national newspapers (or maybe they have, i don’t know). have the papers started using the journal as a source (i heard one of the editors of the journal on mat cooper last night and was impressed)?

perhaps an independent investigation might lead back to Hogan’s door ..ala Bertie & Mahon?

Liar. Inquiries into county council corruption have been cancelled, including the egregious illegal dumping in Wicklow which officials connived at and turned a blind eye to… Brown envelopes rule!

jan, another bootgirl.
thanks again phill for nothing ……….and the corruption continues .

Minister Phil Hogan was presented with a summary of work in progress when he began his role last year. This document was published. Why did Hogan censor advice on planning enquiries from his published briefing notes?

https://twitter.com/#!/smytho/status/185313298563076097/photo/1

The full ministerial briefing notes are here:
http://www.environ.ie/en/FOI/PublicationsDocuments/FileDownLoad,25805,en.pdf

I worked as a planner in a local authority for long enough to see that some very suspicious decisions get made – the problem, as I saw it, was that it’s not confined to any one particular party. Area committees being responsible for liaising / influencing zoning patterns under Local Area Plans (in their own electoral area) can only lead to Parish Pump type politics in order to curry favour or garner support. No political party will want to see such a review undertaken, with the exception of the Greens…and that’s only because their number of individual Local Authorities was miniscule anyway

Just heard that a resumption of these independent investigations will be announced on Sunday. As will the announcement that the salary of all special advisers will be dropped to the promised pay cap, with the balance saved being used to fund the independent investigations.

O.K. Maybe it twas a dream.

Independent reviews into the banking sector have helped to identify and address shortcomings. Surely the same needs to happen within our planning systems to address the failings in public administration and the political system?

We are a bankrupt nation, accountability HAS to be seen by the people if we are to move forward in a constructive manner in the interests of present and future Irish citizens.

Considering the findings of the Mahon Tribunal, will Minister Hogan also continue with his “review” of the Greens 2010 Planning Act?

The Bill was opposed by Fine Gael because it “essentially amounts to watering down the powers afforded to councillors in regard to planning”, as Lucinda Creighton put it. Minister Hogan Phil Hogan on taking office wanted to “review” key elements with a view to removing some of its shackles.

The principal aim of this 2010 Planning Act was to make evidence-based planning and responsible zoning a legal requirement for local authorities, consistent with regional planning guidelines and the national spatial strategy.

Funny enough I beleve the Minister more than i believe FF or John Gormley.

I’d be very surprised if a Labour Minister has “something to hide”. To be fair Labour has been shown to be squeaky clean in Mahon.