Government parties clash over legal challenges to housing development

Greens hit out at FG minister's proposal to slash the number of reviews which, he says, delay 'tens of thousands' of homes

Local Government and Planning Minister Peter Burke said plans to build “tens of thousands” of homes are being held up due to judicial reviews. Stock picture

A row has erupted within Government over proposals to limit legal challenges to housing development.

The Green Party has hit out at plans put forward by a Fine Gael minister to change planning laws in a bid to slash the number of judicial reviews taken.

Minister of State for Local Government and Planning Peter Burke said plans to build “tens of thousands” of homes are being held up because of the high level of judicial reviews.

He said there has been a 375% increase in such legal actions since 2018 and continued legal actions could slow down commitments to build 100,000 homes by 2030.

But Green Party spokesperson on planning and local government Steven Matthews criticised his Government colleague and asked him to "reconsider many aspects" of the 2019 Fine Gael bill on judicial reviews.

“Rather than address the issues behind the increasing numbers of judicial reviews, the Minister appears to be aiming to exclude people from seeking justice. We need to be addressing the problem at source,” Mr Matthews said.

Removing access to justice on planning and environmental matters doesn’t mean we will get a better or faster planning system, it just means some people will get away with poor planning decisions and that method haunts us from the past. 

"Proper planning and sustainable development should be open, transparent and stand up to scrutiny at any level.” 

Proposing an overhaul of planning laws, Mr Burke said some planning decisions are being delayed by up to four years and are challenged "every step of the way".

“That’s not good enough in terms of outcome. The system needs to have a reasonable time frame,” he told RTÉ radio.

He added that there is a growing legal industry in judicial reviews with some law companies actively advertising their services.

However, Mr Mathews said access to justice is enshrined at the core of the Irish Constitution.

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“It is unacceptable to label groups who have an important role in ensuring that planning and environmental law is upheld and the environment is protected as being involved in an ‘industry'," Mr Matthews added.

“Most of the people I know who are involved in taking a Judicial Review would much rather spend their time and money on other matters but have had to take these cases to protect our environment.”