Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Tuesday, 7 February 2023
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government
General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion
Ms Mary Jones:
I will take the point on standing first. We ensure that anyone taking a judicial review has legal personality, which is the legal phrase that is used. You are either an individual, who has legal personality, or it is an organisation that has been established as a company, and therefore, has legal personality. Certain groups may not be established under those categories. For example, there may be more ad hoccategories. There is nothing wrong with the intent of the organisation but that is their legal position. The organisation or individual have legal personality in the event of moving on to costs, and we will be providing a costs scheme. However, where a case is found to be frivolous or vexatious, costs can be awarded against them. Therefore, there has to be an entity - either a person or a company - against whom an order can be made. That is a shorthand version of it.
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