A FORMER DEPUTY chairman of An Bord Pleanála who was given a two month prison sentence earlier this year for making false or misleading declarations has avoided jail after successfully appealing the severity of the penalty imposed on him.

Mr Paul Hyde (51) appeared before Cork Circuit Court this morning, where he received a fine of €6000.

Judge Colin Daly also sentenced Mr Hyde to two three-month prison sentences arising out of the two counts to which he had pleaded guilty. However, he suspended the sentences in their entirety.

Defence counsel, Tom Creed, had emphasised that his client Mr Hyde “was not involved in corruption despite what the keyboard warriors may say.”

Last March, Mr Hyde was charged with nine counts of making false or misleading declarations of interest to the planning authority between 2014 and 2022.

There months later Mr Hyde (51) of Castlefields, Baltimore, Co Cork pleaded guilty to two offences which were contrary to Section 147 of the Planning and Development Act.

He pleaded guilty on a full facts basis to two counts relating to 2015 and 2018. The State withdrew the remaining seven counts.

Dt Sgt Shane Curtis of the Garda National Economic Bureau outlined the details of the case.

Dept Sgt Curtis investigated the matter after stories appeared in the Village magazine and on The Ditch website in relation to the planning authority.

Dt Sgt Curtis said that when Mr Hyde made his return of 2018, he failed to include properties which he had listed three years earlier other than properties in Baltimore in West Cork and in Douglas in the city. Both of those properties were exempt as they were his residential addresses.

Tom Creed, SC, for Mr Hyde told the appeal that his client readily accepted that he had failed to declare properties he owned in his declarations of interest to the planning authority.

The court heard that Hyde was under the mistaken belief that when the receiver took over properties that he was no longer the owner.

Mr Creed stressed that “no benefit or gain” arose in the case.

He said that Mr Hyde had fully co operated with the investigation and pleaded guilty at the first opportunity.

Mr Creed said that some people on “digital (not mainstream) media” had depicted his client as being somewhat corrupt.

“It is unfortunate that digital media — not mainstream media — portrayed him as corrupt.

Mr Hyde was not involved in any corruption despite what these keyboard warriors say. He (Hyde) did not declare those properties because he felt the receiver had control. He failed to declare but there was no material benefit or interest.

I would submit to the court that this is not a case for a prison sentence. Mr Hyde has suffered quite substantially over his failure to declare these properties.”

He said that his client had sustained substantial reputational damage arising out of the matter. Mr Creed said that his client also lost his salary after he resigned his position with the planning authority.

Mr Creed asked Judge Daly to impose “appropriate fines” rather than a prison sentence.

He added that his client was prosecuted under Section 147 for failing to declare an interest, rather than the more serious Section 148, where an officer fails to declare an interest that is relevant to an appeal or determination by the board.

In sentencing, Judge Daly said that in dishonesty offences involving a breach of trust by professional people “the principle of deterrence must be an important consideration.”

“It is necessary to maintain high standards of transparency and trust. But the principle of transparency must give way to the principle of proportionality, particularly when he made no material benefit.’

Judge Daly indicated that he was cognisant of the “personal, professional and reputational consequences” of the case on Mr Hyde.

In relation to properties which went undeclared because they were in receivership Judge Daly stressed that a simple check by the defendant with his legal advisors would have clarified his obligations in relation to declaring same.

He also noted that in two declarations of interest by Hyde he made no reference to a small strip of land located by common ground owned by a local authority. This land at Pope’s Hill in Cork sold for €20,000.

The court heard this morning that Hyde was under the impression that it was worth less than the €13,000 threshold in legislation for declaring property.

Judge Daly concluded that the culpability of Mr Hyde fell at the “higher end of the range.”

“As regards the harm done to society, it is extremely important that there is a lack of perception of bias and a lack of bias. The harm and risk to society must be considered to be very high. But I don’t find there are any aggravating factors.

In mitigation, Mr Hyde voluntarily cooperated with the inquiry and equally with the gardai. He entered a plea at the earliest opportunity.

He is of previous good character and has a clean record. He did not gain materially from the breaches. He lost his job, his salary, and most importantly his reputation.”

Meanwhile, earlier this year in West Cork Judge James McNulty had sentenced Hyde to two months in jail on each count he pleaded guilty to with the sentences to run concurrently.

Judge McNulty had said that ethical standards in public life matter and that anyone statutorily obliged to disclose any interest should comply fully and carefully with their legal requirements.

Judge McNulty stressed that Mr Hyde ought to have been fully aware of his legal requirements under section 147 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 to fully disclose all his interests when he became a member of An Bord Pleanála.

He said the planning authority needed to be able to “carry out its work in an independent manner that embodies the public service ethos of integrity, impartiality and a desire to serve the public interest.”

Judge McNulty acknowledged had been no loss of revenue to the State as a result of Hyde’s offending.

However, he said he was obliged to impose a custodial sentence to mark “the seriousness of the offence and the high level of culpability on the part of the accused.”

Hyde was appointed to the board of An Bord Pleanála in 2014. He was appointed deputy chairman in 2019.

A series of articles were published by “The Ditch” and “The Village” in April of last year in respect of An Bord Pleanala.

The editor of one of the publications wrote to Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien who directed a review of the issues involved by senior counsel Remy Farrell.

On foot of Mr Farrell’s report in to An Bord Pleanala gardai started an investigation under Section 147 (1) of the Planning and Development Act 2000.

The breaches pleaded guilty to referred to 2015 and 2018. In the first case, Mr Hyde listed a total of nine properties that he had had an interest in as part of his formal schedule of interests to An Bord Pleanala.

These includes four properties at Pope’s Hill in Cork city, one in Baltimore, one in Castletroy in Limerick and one site at Rathduff in Co Cork.

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

In a schedule of his interests submitted as part of his declaration of 2018, Hyde did not list a number of properties which he had included in his 2014 declaration. The court heard that the properties were the subject of a receiver at the time.