An Bord Pleanála officials deliver long-awaited report on ex-chairman’s decisions

Officials at An Bord Pleanála have delivered a long-awaited report on planning decisions by former deputy chairman Paul Hyde and “further allegations of wrongdoing” to the planning board’s chairman, Dave Walsh.

The report comes six months after the planning authority commenced the internal review. “Please note that the examination report was discharged to the chairperson yesterday evening,” said An Bord Pleanála on Friday, without providing any detail on the findings or any plans to publish the document.

The nature of the allegations of wrongdoing examined in the report has never been set out publicly. But Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien referred in a statement to such work after he received a separate report on Mr Hyde from senior counsel Remy Farrell.

The An Bord Pleanála review began in April with a remit to examine hundreds of decisions handed down by Mr Hyde, who has always denied any wrongdoing but resigned in July after facing allegations of conflicts of interest in some of his work. He faces prosecution after a Garda investigation into claims of impropriety in some of his conduct.