Kerry’s planning enforcement ‘lacks teeth’ claims councillor after recent dispute lost in court

By Alastair Tibbs, The Kerryman

A Kerry councillor has questioned the council’s ability to enforce planning decisions after the authority lost a recent planning dispute in court.

Councillor Brendan Cronin asked at a council meeting on Monday: “Does the planning enforcement section actually have, forgive me, teeth?”

“At best there’s dentures in the department that get removed now and again,” replied Councillor Norma Moriarty.

Planning enforcement deals with breaches of planning regulation and takes action on authorised development.

In July, the council lost a court case over an alleged planning infringement they believed was strongly in their favour. As a result, they were ordered to pay the defendant’s court fees.

Since January 2024, the council documented 547 unauthorised planning cases, 25 of which were referred onto the planning enforcement section.

Out of seven of those cases that went to court, three were successfully finalised and four are still ongoing.

“There are people who I deal with and their confidence is shattered on the responses, the handling, the finalising and action,” said Cllr Cronin.

“There’s a need to focus, if you want to give confidence out there where there are serious issues, deal with the problem, make a decision and finalise the damn thing.”

Council bosses assured the councillors that they take planning enforcement very seriously and complete comprehensive preparation work before taking a case to court.