Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the three Deputies for raising the issue. Deputy Cahill has been speaking to me about this issue on an ongoing basis and articulating his concerns. There is a balance to be struck in terms of objecting to significant facilities. People have rights to object but on the other hand the increasing use of judicial review is something on which we, as a society, will have to reflect. There is an independent planning process. It is rigorous and it should be respected. There is a growing sense that the judicial review is becoming a new mechanism to frustrate and delay projects hoping that they may not develop. That is creating challenges on the investment side and in terms of the creation of jobs. That has to be acknowledged. What the Deputies are saying is problematic. We saw it in forestry in the past while where there were consistent interventions, which were designed to stop any licences from issuing, and we had to deal with that legislatively. There are significant issues as we prepare the national development plan, for example. We have reviewed this. The range of projects, be they infrastructural or production, that are held up now has to be a cause for concern overall.

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