Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Since that framework was originally approved, all sorts of things have changed, which includes climate action plans, legally binding emissions reduction targets, changes to EU law, the Aarhus Convention, not to mention the complexity of planning and building control, etc. How reasonable is it, given the increasing level of complexity of planning and environmental decision-making, to go back to the good old days of simplified decisions? Would it not be more sensible to strengthen the argument that Ms Buckley made at the start, which is that in a world of increasing complexity, decision-making will need to be adequately resourced and to be given the appropriate amount of time to make good-quality, detailed decisions.

Ultimately, again, and this is without prejudice to any individual decisions of the courts, judicial reviews are won and lost not just on small technical changes - I am aware there is often a discourse around that - but often on some fundamental conflicts between the legal obligations of the State or actors within the State on environmental grounds or planning grounds, and Government policy. We must admit and resolve that and the best way to do that is to support Ms Buckley’s original comments, which is in regard to proper resourcing of bodies, and that includes the Judiciary. While I acknowledge Ms Buckley does not suggest that, I am not so sure we can go back to an era of those shorter headline determinations because I do not believe the environment allows us to do that any more.