Almost a quarter of Dublin householders and businesses found to have broken construction planning laws more than four years ago have yet to be prosecuted by Dublin City Council.
Figures released by the council's planning department show that 23 per cent of breaches of the 2000 Planning and Development Act uncovered during 2001 have not yet been resolved. From 2004, the most recent year with complete records, 45 per cent of files have yet to be dealt with.
The violations brought to the attention of the council - by residents or through its own inspections - range from additions to private houses to unauthorised portions of large-scale developments such as apartment complexes and leisure centres.
The council recorded 1,401 valid complaints in 2001 and 332 (23 per cent) of these remain unresolved. In 2002, 1,052 complaints were upheld, but 378 (37 per cent) are unresolved. In 2003, there were 1,182 valid complaints, with 472 (40 per cent) of these remaining unresolved, and in 2004 there were 1,075 valid complaints, 481 (45 per cent) of which remain unresolved.
Complaints were not being ignored, the council said, but it could take a lot of time to resolve them.
"There are cases from 2001 where investigations have begun but are still ongoing," said Rory O'Byrne, the council's planning enforcement manager. "Each case is different and you might get a year where you have a run of complicated cases involving multiple breaches of the legislation."
Cases where offenders did not comply with enforcement notices issued by the council and where the matter had to be brought before the District Court could be particularly lengthy, he added.
"If we are bringing a case to court, we have to ensure that the proofs [ of the offence] are in order, that all opportunity was given to rectify the matters, and we may be waiting for other information to come to hand," he said.
The council hoped to increase its enforcement rate this year, and measures had already been taken to decrease the case load.
"We have made huge improvements recently in reorganising our resources. We are now employing outside solicitors to try to speed things up and we will be getting two new administrative staff in the new year. The 2000 legislation is relatively new and we will be expecting improvement in our figures on an ongoing basis."
Fine Gael councillor Gerry Breen said a greater level of enforcement was vital, or the public and developers would not respect the planning code. "If someone breaks the planning laws, the council should come down on them like a tonne of bricks. It is an issue where we have to put our foot down."
Concerns relating to the planning system accounted for a huge volume of complaints brought to councillors by their constituents, Mr Breen added.
"Dublin City Council is failing householders who observe the planning regulations and is allowing the cowboys who break the rules to have a free ride."
