An Bord Pleanála gave €212,850 in severance pay to a former top official, months after consultants to the crisis-struck body found she had “no case to answer” in relation to claims of a conflict of interest.
The payment to Rachel Kenny, who was director of planning, was disclosed in the board’s 2023 annual report. The report was submitted to the Government in recent weeks but remains unpublished.
Although Ms Kenny was not named in the document, The Irish Times has established she was the beneficiary of a June 2023 severance deal approved by the Department of Public Expenditure. The payment was in line with policy on severance terms in the civil and public service, said the annual report.
Ms Kenny had no comment and An Bord Pleanála had nothing to say about the payment.
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“Please note that we are awaiting certification from the Comptroller and Auditor General on our draft financial statements for 2023,” the board said.
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“Accordingly, we will not be responding to queries relating to figures in the Annual Report 2023 prior to C&AG certification of the financial statements, the laying of the report before the Oireachtas and final publication of the annual report.”
An Bord Pleanála went on to say a separate report was “expected within the next week” from a senior barrister who has been investigating “matters of concern” in the body since January 2023. That report, by Lorna Lynch SC, had been expected in April.
“Following receipt of the report by the chairperson, a period of time will be required to consider its contents and consider what are the appropriate next steps,” it said.
Ms Kenny’s payment came as the board grappled with the fallout from controversy that led to the July 2022 resignation of its former deputy chairman, Paul Hyde. He received a suspended prison sentence last November for failing to declare certain property interests, after pleading guilty to two charges.
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Former chairman Dave Walsh left An Bord Pleanála four months after Mr Hyde, taking early retirement “for personal and family reasons”.
Asked whether Mr Hyde or Mr Walsh received severance pay, An Bord Pleanála said: “No such payments were made.”
At the height of the turmoil, Mr Walsh said he commissioned external consultants Resolve Ireland to examine certain issues raised about Ms Kenny.
Resolve found she had “no case to answer” about any alleged conflict of interest and cleared her of any breaches of the board’s code of conduct, Mr Walsh said in October 2022 when still in office.
He said then: “In relation to matters relating to a senior official and potential conflicts of interest, the chairperson commissioned an independent external investigation into the allegations made, and this report concluded that the issues raised had been the subject of materially inaccurate media reports and that there was no case to answer in respect of breaches of the board’s code of conduct or conflicts of interest in decision-making.”
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