Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

No, it should not. We have had that imbalance in the planning system for many years in terms of communities against a big project but certainly this is not the case here. The critical thing here is to create a level playing field to ensure that an NGO can participate in the system, be it a case against the State, and that it can do that in a way that is equitable. That is what this is about.

What the State is giving is a contribution to the cost. It is open to the applicant to pay in excess of that. That is under section 265(4), which states:

The costs that a party is ordered to pay to an applicant under subsection (2)shall not exceed the monetary amount prescribed in respect of those costs under section 266unless the court awarding such costs is satisfied that, due to the exceptional circumstances presented by a particular case— (a) there is a reason of exceptional public importance for awarding costs exceeding that amount ...