James Geoghegan (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)

Seven years ago, a planning application was submitted for the greater Dublin drainage project, which went through swings and roundabouts and through the courts. A new planning application was put in, which was finally approved. It is going to impact over half a million homes, with tens of thousands of other homes awaiting delivery on foot of this, and yet it is being judicially reviewed. The applicant has a right to a judicial review, but I think what most of the public would be aghast at is that they do so at risk of no legal cost in terms of the application they are bringing that impacts so many people. I know reforms on judicial review are coming, but what I would like to know is when are the planning regulations going to be issued under the new planning Act in relation to the overall cost in cases like this? Can we go further? Are we delivering critical infrastructure in this country whereby if someone takes a judicial review against it, they might face the risk of legal costs? Are there circumstances in which the Attorney General could advise that we could stay within the Aarhus Convention but that there are circumstances in which legal costs could apply?

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