The Minister for the Environment, Mr Cullen, has nine times rejected recommendations by his department's heritage officials to appeal planning cases to An Bord Pleanála since June 2002. He sanctioned appeals being lodged in 19 cases in the same period.
The figures are contained in documentation obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.
These cases represent a fraction of the total number of planning applications referred by local authorities to the heritage division (formerly known as Dúchas) of the Department of the Environment for its information or comment over the same period. It is estimated that comments were made in one-third of all cases.
Previously, when Dúchas was part of the Department of Arts and Heritage, planning appeals were treated as a routine matter, often without reference to the then minister, Ms Síle de Valera. But Mr Cullen has decided to take a more hands-on approach.
In 2002, 8,530 planning cases with heritage implications were recorded on a database maintained by the heritage division's development applications unit.
The number of cases in the first 10 months of 2003 amounted to 8,692.
The unit co-ordinates heritage-related responses to planning and development proposals referred by the local authorities to the Department of the Environment.
The responses cover areas of archaeology, architecture and nature conservation.
Since June 2002, when the Department assumed responsibility for heritage matters, the unit recommended that appeals be made to An Bord Pleanála in 28 cases.
Thirteen of the cases concerned the exclusion of archaeological conditions.
In four of these cases, the Minister rejected his heritage officials' recommendations to object. These involved developments in Enniscorthy, Co Wexford; Latt, on the outskirts of Cavan town; Roscommon town; and Rooskey, Co Roscommon.
The Minister rejected three out of eight cases where the Heritage Service had general archaeological or architectural concerns about development proposals.
These involved schemes in Swords, Co Dublin; Monasterevin, Co Kildare; and Arklow, Co Wicklow.
The most recent case where he declined to permit an appeal being lodged under his name related to Trim Castle, in Co Meath, where the heritage division was concerned about the potentially negative impact of a hotel directly opposite its ramparts.
Five recommended appeals related to concerns about the impact of developments on natural habitats, including four candidate Special Areas of Conservation (SACs). Only one was rejected, involving a proposed cattle market in Co Kilkenny.
In general, Mr Cullen seemed less inclined to have appeals made on heritage grounds against significant development proposals, such as a 1,100-plus housing scheme in Swords, while permitting appeals against schemes involving single houses.
There has also been a marked decline in the number of cases where the heritage division has recommended an appeal, from 18 in the period of June to December, 2002, to just 10 for the whole of 2003, and a corresponding increase in the number rejected.
A spokesman for the Department of the Environment said that, in considering recommendations to appeal, the significance of any impact on the "natural or built heritage" is examined.
He said consideration is also given to whether other powers exist to provide adequate safeguards, such as the National Monuments Acts.
