An Bord Pleanála came into being on January 1st, 1977, and on March 15th that year it was given the power to hear appeals against the planning decisions of local authorities.
Prior to its establishment planning appeals were determined by the minister for local government and so the board was initially staffed by civil servants from that department.
Board members were directly appointed by the minister until 1983 when the system was reformed.
The reforms established a new "arms' length" approach where members of the board were appointed by a committee and selected by different interest groups.
Currently there are 10 board members, including chairman John O'Connor.
The other board members come from nine panels representing areas such as planning, engineering and architecture, local government, farming and trade unions.
The current board members are: Brian Hunt, a civil engineer, Margaret Byrne a civil servant, Angela Tunney, a planner, Brian Swift, a former city and county councillor, Jane Doyle, a planner, Karl Kent, an architect, Mary Bryan, former chief executive of the Irish Georgian Society, Mary MacMahon, a planner, and Conall Boland, a civil engineer.
Planning appeals are assessed by inspectors, who make recommendations to the board, which then makes a final decision on each appeal.
The board was recently given sanction for extra staff.
By the beginning of next year it will have a workforce of 64 inspectors and 108 administrative staff.
