An IT system used by Ireland's planning authority, An Coimisiún Pleanála, has been found to be falsifying public planning records, prompting warnings that the body could face a wave of costly legal challenges to its past decisions. The flaw came to light during a judicial review in which a High Court judge, David Holland, quashed the Commission's approval for the expansion of a waste storage area at the Aughinish Alumina refinery in Co. Limerick. The judge ruled that the fault caused the authority to breach its statutory duties by unintentionally producing inaccurate records, raising the prospect that other decisions made using the system could similarly be open to challenge, with taxpayers potentially left to cover the cost.

The 'Plean-IT' platform has already cost taxpayers at least €5 million, and the Commission — chaired by former HSE chief Paul Reid — is now scrambling to introduce a replacement while assessing the wider fallout for other cases. Judge Holland described the problem as 'clearly systemic', 'unlikely to have been a one-off lapse' and 'not minor', adding that it 'could not have arisen had its design and installation been properly supervised and effected'. The Aughinish refinery at the centre of the case is owned by an associate of Russian president Vladimir Putin and is separately the subject of a Government investigation into claims that material from the plant has been used to make Russian weapons.