THE contentious renaming of An Bord Pleanala to An Coimisiun Pleanala has cost just under €77,000.
New figures provided by the State’s planning watchdog show an outlay of €22,045 on new signage.
This includes an external over-entrance sign and two corner projection signs with the new name at the agency’s Marlborough Street HQ in Dublin 1.
The €76,921 outlay also included a spend of €18,450 on architect consultancy which provided design, coordination and project management services for internal ground floor signs and external signage.
The spend also included €18,450 on a radio ad campaign; €5,380 on a new sign installation cancellation fee; €6,363 on newspaper notices and €3,637 on the change of name on the corporate seal and rubber stamps.
Sinn Fein Housing spokesperson Eoin O Broin called the expense “completely unnecessary as there was no need to change the name of An Bord Pleanala”.
When first mooted in 2023 in the wake of scandals at the agency, trade union Forsa opposed plans to change the name as it would amount to a “collective punishment”.
In correspondence with then Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien, the union’s Ian McDonnell said the Forsa branch within An Bord Pleanala had passed a motion “expressing their opposition to this proposed name change”.
McDonnell said that the proposed change “reflects negatively on all who work in the organisation” and is akin to “collective punishment of all (past and present) in the organisation.
O Broin said that as a member of the Oireachtas Housing Committee he tabled an amendment to the then Planning and Development Bill to have the name of An Bord Pleanala retained but this was rejected by Government.
Asked about staff’s attitude to the name change, a spokesman for An Coimisiun Pleanala said: “In terms of staff feeling on the name change, while there was some unhappiness about the changing of the name when it was first suggested in early 2023, now the name change has taken place, the staff and planning commissioners of the Commission have embraced and accepted the name change.”
He stated that “good developments are built on solid foundations and An Coimisiun Pleanala is built on the most solid of foundations, which is down to the part played by all former staff and Board members who have served with An Bord Pleanala over the last 48 years”.
REDUCING BACKLOG
As part of the bid to reduce the backlog in appeals, the number of senior planning inspectors at An Coimisiun Pleanala totals 60 at the end of June 2025 compared to 45 at the end of December 2023.
The appeals board now has two Directors of Planning while the number of planning inspectors has reduced from 39 at the end of last year to 35 now though five new appointees are due to start in July and August.
The most recent quarterly figures show that the number of cases on hand at the end of March this year was 1,369 which was down 878 or 39 per cent on the 2,247 cases on hand at the end of March 2024.
