The High Court dismissed Philip O’Connor’s judicial review application challenging An Bord Pleanála’s decision to treat Sean O’Brien’s appeal against planning permission in Killarney as valid.
O’Connor argued that the appeal was invalid because it did not state O’Brien’s address, as required by section 127 of the Planning and Development Act 2000. The Board had told O’Connor’s solicitor that it considered the appeal met the section’s criteria.
The appeal letter referred to an enclosed acknowledgement from Killarney Town Council for O’Brien’s earlier planning observation. That acknowledgement named him and gave the address Knockcullen House, New Road, Killarney. The court accepted that the address could reasonably be understood as O’Brien’s address when he appealed. It noted there was no evidence that he had moved in the intervening months or that his address was uncertain.
The judge held that the address requirement was mandatory: non-compliance could not be excused as minor or because no prejudice had been shown. But the court also ruled that an appeal did not have to be contained in a single document. Because the appeal letter expressly referred to the acknowledgement, the acknowledgement formed part of the appeal documents and supplied the required name and address.
The judgment records that the court had granted leave to seek judicial review before hearing the substantive application. It then concluded that the appeal complied with section 127(1) and dismissed the application for the requested relief. The judgment does not set out any separate order quashing or changing the planning permission.