An Oireachtas committee is to seek copies of all papers relevant to the handling by the Minister for the Environment, Mr Cullen, of planning appeals in heritage cases.
Mr Bernard Allen TD, Fine Gael's environment spokesman, raised the issue following a report in The Irish Times yesterday that Mr Cullen had rejected advice to lodge appeals to An Bord Pleanála in nine of 28 cases since June 2002.
"In view of recent political concerns raised regarding the planning process, Minister Cullen must let us know if any representations were received by him in relation to any of the 28 cases that were brought to his attention - especially the nine cases which were not appealed," Mr Allen said.
On his recommendation, the Oireachtas Committee on the Environment decided yesterday to contact the Minister's office to seek all the relevant papers relating to the 38 planning cases on which heritage officials had recommended that appeals should be made to An Bord Pleanála.
"This Minister's more hands-on approach and his political involvement in the planning process should be carefully monitored," Mr Allen said. He said Mr Cullen "must explain in detail the logic and motivation behind his decisions", especially as many of the cases that were appealed involved one-off houses and some of the nine not appealed were in large developments, including a major housing scheme in Swords, Co Dublin.
Interviewed on RTÉ Radio yesterday, the Minister said when he realised that "a lot of objections" were being made in his name by the heritage division of his Department, he decided to involve himself in this area.
