Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 2 March 2023
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government
General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed)
Mr. Tom Flynn:
Can I make a point about judicial review? There is still a requirement to apply for leave for judicial review. In most other legal proceedings there is no requirement; you simply issues the proceedings. We have to bear that in mind when people say it is very easy to challenge or judicially review decisions of planning. That is not actually correct. The history of it is a restrictive regime. It is a very restrictive regime with a specific time limit. There is still the requirement that one can only challenge them by way of section 50 of the planning Act in the High Court. That is the mechanism. It is a restricted mechanism and there are slight ways around that. It is in contrast to other litigation and other areas of law, where you can simply issue the proceedings. You can go to your lawyers and ask them for advice. You are not required to take this step and you generally have much longer than eight weeks.
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