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Ex-An Bord Pleanala deputy chair Paul Hyde is jailed for making false statements

Hyde (50) was sentenced to two months in prison at Bandon district court today

Today at 14:12

FORMER Deputy Chairman of An Bord Pleanála Paul Hyde was sentenced to two months in prison for making false or misleading statements about his personal interests.

The architect was warned by Judge James McNulty that his offences were “very serious” – and he said a message had to be issued that “ethical standards in public life matter.”

The judge also noted the offences “sadly that involved a breach of trust.”

Noting the defendants plea, his co-operation with gardaí, his personal circumstances and the fact he did not financially gain from the issues involved, Judge McNulty imposed a two month prison sentence.

However, he allowed recognizance of €100 if the defendant wished to appeal the sentence to the Circuit Court – allowing him to walk free pending any such appeal.

Judge McNulty “politely and respectfully refused” all pleas to suspend the sentence as he warned the issues involved were too serious.

Hyde had pleaded guilty to two counts of failing to properly declare his interests including one strip of land described before the district court as a potential “ransom strip.”

Hyde (50) of Castlefields, Baltimore, Co Cork was sentenced before Judge McNulty at Bandon District Court after the judge adjourned proceedings at Skibbereen District Court on Tuesday so he could carefully consider a case believed to be the first of its kind.

Judge McNulty warned it was a very serious matter.

“It should be clear that ethical standards in public life matter and that the disclosure of (personal) interests in the public interest and for the public interest…requires strict compliance.”

He also said the message should go out to all planners that they can be reassured about ethical standards being stoutly defended.

Judge McNulty said that what made the matter before him so serious was the very nature of ABP and the strict measures that were adopted in the wake of the Planning Tribunal and its revelations over 20 years ago.

“What makes this offence so serious is that the work of ABP is quasi-judicial in nature and at the high end of quasi-judicial.”

He noted that ABP is the appeal venue for planning matters for ordinary citizens – and that the board also takes very important decisions about major developments.

“To serve the citizens of Ireland is a great privilege,” he said, but noted that ethical standards in such offices were incredibly important.

“ABP has enormous power and enormous influence on the lives of ordinary citizens.”

Hyde, a father-of-three, had faced a total of nine summonses following an investigation by Detective Sergeant Shane Curtis of the Garda National Economic Crime Unit.

However, John Berry BL, for the State, told the court that the former ABP deputy chairman was pleading guilty to two counts on a full facts basis before the court.

When facts were outlined to the court and pleas to the two counts were entered, the State withdrew the remaining seven counts.

The summonses dealt with matters ranging from 2014 to 2022.

Judge McNulty was told by Mr Berry that a series of articles were published by ‘The Ditch’ and ‘The Village’ in April 2022 in respect of ABP.

The editor of one of the publications wrote to Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien, who has responsibility for ABP, and he directed a review of the issues involved by Remy Farrell SC.

On foot of Mr Farrell’s report into ABP, which was forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecutions, Gardaí commenced an investigation under Section 147 (1) of the Planning and Development Act, 2000.

Judge McNulty was told that Paul Hyde stood back from his duties with ABP in May 2022.

He then resigned his position in July 2022.

The Cork architect had been appointed to ABP in 2013 and had been promoted to the role of its deputy chairman in 2019.

Mr Berry said that Paul Hyde was pleading guilty to two breaches of Section 147 in respect of 2015 and 2018.

In the first case, the defendant listed a total of nine properties that he had an interest in as part of his formal schedule of interests to ABP.

These included four properties at Pope’s Hill in Cork city, two properties in Douglas, Cork, one property in Baltimore in west Cork, one property in Castletroy in Limerick and one site at Rathduff in Co Cork.

Mr Hyde’s residential addresses were in Douglas and Baltimore.

However, Mr Hyde failed to declare his interest in a strip of land in Cork city located adjacent to a housing estate.

Det Sgt Curtis said this small property, effectively an oblong strip of land, was “small but potentially significant.”

Judge McNulty queried whether it would be fair to describe the property involved as “a ransom strip.”

The court was told that Mr Farrell, in his report, described the land involved as a potential “ransom strip” – which had little intrinsic value by itself but could be of strategic value or use to a third party.

Judge McNulty was told that Hyde had transferred ownership of the strip of land in 2017 for a consideration of €20,000, a matter reflected in land registry files in 2019.

The company that secured the property transfer, Planica, has Mr Hyde’s sister as one of its directors.

The court heard that one of the emails connected to the company was linked to Mr Hyde.

However, Paula McCarthy BL, for Mr Hyde, insisted that her client had no shareholding or financial interest in the company involved.

“(He had) no legal or beneficial interest in that company,” she said.

Det Sgt Curtis also noted that, in a schedule of his interests submitted as part of his 2018 declaration, Mr Hyde did not list a number of properties which he had included in his 2014 declaration of interests.

The court was told that all these properties were all the subject of a receiver at the time.

The receiver subsequently disposed of these properties in the interests of the banks involved.

Paula McCarthy BL, for the defendant, said that her client did not believe at the time he was required to list the properties involved as he no longer had control of them.

“These properties were in receivership…he did not have control of these properties. He was not benefitting from them. He did not believe he was obliged to list them. He now accepts he was mistaken and that, as the legal owner, they should have been listed,” she said.

“He was mistaken – he now accepts that he had a legal obligation to do so.”

Ms McCarthy pointed out to the court that her client did not financially benefit from the matters involved.

“He made nothing financially from this,” she said, stressing there was no benefit deriving to Mr Hyde from the matters involved.

She said that, in fact, the matters involved had cost Mr Hyde a great deal.

Judge McNulty noted that the defendant did not financially benefit from the matters involved.

Ms McCarthy said her client, since his resignation from ABP, has been unemployed.

He is divorced and has three children aged from 12 to 19 years.

He is now living in west Cork.

“Financially it has been quite difficult for Mr Hyde,” she said.

Ms McCarthy said it was “a big ask” but she urged Judge McNulty not to record a conviction.

She said that Mr Hyde has no previous convictions and a conviction on these matters would have serious implications for him in terms of regaining employment.

On foot of the Section 147 convictions, he could not work for ABP.

She argued that her client had fully cooperated with the garda investigation, accepted his mistakes in terms of the declaration failures and had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity, saving the State a potentially complex trial.

Gardaí confirmed that the architect had cooperated fully with their inquiry.

Judge McNulty warned the request for the Probation Act to be applied was “optimistic.”

He noted that the entire purpose of declarations of interest were to reassure the public that when important decisions were being made, they could be assured that an individual’s personal interests did not influence any determination.

“Ignorance of the law is no excuse,” he added, noting that when Mr Hyde signed his contract with ABP in 2014 he committed himself to a stipulated code of conduct.

Judge McNulty also queried whether the issues involved might be described as “self-interpretation for his own benefit.”

Mr Berry, when questioned by the judge, said he was not in a position to confirm if there had been similar prosecutions under Section 147 in respect of non-declarations of interest in planning matters.

However, the court was told that there had been proceedings taken over failures under the Standards in Public Office (SIPO) regulations in respect of political campaigns.

Judge McNulty said the case represented “a first” for planning and ethical standards within the planning process.