Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank Dr. Kelly for her presentation and her staff for coming before the committee. There are a few things I wish to ask. I notice that An Bord Pleanála generally tries to make a decision on an application in 15 or 16 weeks. The one thing that stood out was the number of wind farm applications that were receiving refusals. I know that may be down to the court case and the court judgement, but there certainly seems to be many of them judging by the presentation Dr. Kelly made.

Increasingly, members have residents coming to us and asking about the judicial review process. We all tell them that it is a very costly affair and that they cannot afford to deal with it. That is a big problem. Do we have a rough idea of what a judicial review costs? I know it probably depends and varies, but I would like to get a rough idea. We have had some cases in which people have been requesting it. I had not experienced a case before in which the local authority refused a planning application but the developer appealed it to An Bord Pleanála and received the permission to go ahead. Are there many cases of that where An Bord Pleanála grants the appeal that had been refused by the local authority? I am curious because I had not experienced it before. I am thinking of the Lanesborough case up in Fingal where the old castle was on the edge of Finglas. It caught a lot of residents by surprise. They thought that they had managed to stop the development and suddenly it was appealed successfully by the developer. I am curious as to whether there are many such applications and decisions being made.

Do the witnesses have a view on the fast-tracking of the housing planning process? Do they agree with it? I am not asking them to go against the Minister, but it is something that has been very much set in stone that the process goes through the local authority and other stages. Now the process will bypass many of those stages. While we all agree with trying to deliver housing quickly, we would want to be very careful that we do not give people the opportunity to appeal and get their way. Once An Bord Pleanála makes a decision, what is left for the citizen? It is only a judicial review, which is very costly. I believe that will be a bone of contention for many people.

I am interested in the use of environmental impact assessments on large developments and the EU rules attached to them. Does An Bord Pleanála find them very time-consuming in their consultation? They seem to drag on for a long time. They require consultation and it probably sucks up many resources in terms of time.