FORMER HSE CHIEF Paul Reid will receive a salary of €50,000 in his new role as chairperson of An Coimisiún Pleanála, a new planning authority that will replace An Bord Pleanála. 

His appointment was approved by Cabinet this afternoon after Housing Minister James Browne brought a memo for information to establish the new body.

Reid served as the Director General of the HSE from 2019 to 2022. He was chief executive of Fingal County Council from 2014 to 2019, and is a member of the board of Uisce Éireann. He also chaired the Citizens’ Assembly on Drugs in 2023. 

An Coimisiún Pleanála is being established in line with the phased commencement of the Planning and Development Act 2024, which was approved by the Houses of the Oireachtas in October last year.

The Act essentially allows for the restructuring of An Bord Pleanála. 

The reformed and renamed commission will have a new governing board and will be subject to statutory mandatory timelines to give confidence and certainty to applicants.

Speaking at a press conference this afternoon, the Housing Minister said the commission “is probably the single most important agency we have in this State”.

“It decides not only housing and how quickly that can be delivered, but also our transport, our education and our hospitals,” he said.

Asked how he came to appoint Reid as its new chairperson, Browne said he looked at the State agencies, particularly those under his own remit, and sought people who were on the boards “who would fit that bill”.

“I identified Paul Reid as somebody having that governance experience, that management experience, because this is going to be a real hands-on role.”

Browne confirmed that Reid would receive a salary of €50,000 per year as chairperson. He said he would “have to check” whether he will also be entitled to allowances, but said “I’m not aware that there is any”. 

“Mr Reid will be expected to be very hands on on an almost daily basis, engaging with the CEO to ensure that this change of management happens as well with this huge body,” he said. 

In January of last year, Peter Mullan was appointed head of An Bord Pleanála for a term of seven years. It was expected that he would assume the role as head of An Coimisiún Pleanála.