Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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689. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the reforms his Department are evaluating to reduce the cost of judicial review; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54798/25]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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As Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, I have obtained Government approval to prepare a General Scheme of a Civil Reform Bill. The Civil Reform Bill is a key implementation measure of the Kelly Report on the Review on the Administration of Civil Justice.

As part of the Bill, it is my intention to introduce provisions which will codify the existing law on judicial review by placing it on a statutory basis. The measures should achieve greater transparency in the law and lead to a more streamlined review process. Key reforms should ensure that the system cannot be misused on purely technical grounds, costs are reduced where possible and litigants have sufficient standing to properly challenge decisions.

In May 2022, the then Minister for Justice published the Civil Justice Efficiencies and Reform Measures (CJERM) Plan. The plan was the result of consideration of the recommendations contained in the Kelly Review and engagement with the Courts Service and members of the Judiciary on how to take forward those recommendations.

While the Kelly Review made some recommendations on secondary measures to address the costs of litigation, it failed to reach a consensus on one primary approach to regulate them. Instead, two options were put forward: a set of non-binding guidelines; and the development of a table of maximum costs. In the absence of a clear primary recommendation in this area, the Minister requested that research be commissioned on the options set out in the Review.

To evaluate the matter further, the Department commissioned Indecon Economic Consultants to undertake a multi-criteria analysis of the two approaches set out in the Review Report. The Department also asked Indecon to consider other models that may achieve the goal of controlling litigation costs.

The Report identified four possible models to control litigation costs but identified a dearth of data in relation to legal costs in Ireland. Recent developments such as the National Claims Information Database (NCID) have provided better information in this area.

My Department is liaising with the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment around the development of scales of fees and for Judicial Review applicants in the environmental space. It is hoped that the outcome of that project can be used in other areas of litigation.