COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF TALLAGHT AREA COMMITTEE (2)

Monday, November 24, 2008

QUESTION NO. 14

QUESTION: Councillor S. Crowe

"To ask the Manager will he a report in regards to the extent of the backdated work that need to be investigated by the enforcement secttion of South Dublin County Council?".

REPLY:

At the start of 2008 there was a backlog of Planning Enforcement files, many of which were of a minor or trivial nature, or were cases where the original cause of complaint no longer existed.

During this year, considerable efforts were made to remedy this and the greatly improved situation at present is that:

Currently there are 497 live enforcement files/ investigations underway in Planning Enforcement.

Of these 497 files,

229 files are with Administration for various actions such as tracking of deadlines on Warning Letters and Enforcement Notices.

217 files are with the Planning Inspectors for investigation and report.

and 51 files are with the Council's Solicitor as legal proceedings have been initiated.

It should be noted that by its nature, and except in emergency situations, Enforcement is a slow process, as statutory timeframes have to be adhered to, and all steps in an investigation must be properly documented for eventual production as evidence in the event of the case coming before the courts.

This can at times create the impression that no action is being taken, whereas this is not the case.