Court reform to speed up planning

Michael O’Farrell, Political Reporter

Outlining the contents of the Government’s Strategic Infrastructure Bill yesterday Environment Minister Dick Roche said court reform would have to form an important part of moves to speed up the planning process for large infrastructure projects. He said changes were needed to reduce “quite remarkable delays” of up to 92 weeks as projects are delayed by “spurious” protest court cases.

However, he denied the move would deny access to the courts for those without means since a judge would be empowered to make an early decision on who should foot the costs of a case based on its merits.