More judges needed to help cut red tape in planning cases, minister told 

Dáil housing committee said in order to ensure judicial reviews were heard promptly and without delay, additional judges should be appointed, with other staffing needs met as required

Proposals in new planning bill risk 'litigation and delay', Oireachtas housing committee says.

The Government must appoint more judges to ensure new laws aimed at cutting the red tape for planning cases are successful, while the proposals risk “litigation and delay”, an Oireachtas committee has said.

In a letter to housing minister James Browne, housing committee chair Micheál Carrigy said its members had eight recommendations around the Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2026.

The committee agreed to carry out an expedited review of the bill, which the Government hopes will speed up judicial review provisions and allow local authorities to amend their development plans to facilitate more house building.

The committee held meetings last month to hear from stakeholders. Mr Carrigy said several “key issues” were raised.

“[This included] concerns regarding fair and equitable access to judicial review, concerns regarding the retrospective application of the legislation to planning cases, and the risks of litigation and delay associated with such changes,” he told the minister.

In one of these meetings, Department of Housing assistant secretary Paul Hogan said the general scheme of this new legislation was aimed at making further amendments to legislation which was passed prior to the 2024 general election.

“The primary purpose of the proposed amendments is to expedite certain planning processes and address operational matters to ensure the legislation is introduced as originally intended,” Mr Hogan said.

“There has been a massive chilling effect on the system whereby what was once an ordinary, straightforward application with a predictable timeline, perhaps on zoned land with a very small, finite set of accompanying reports, has become a major production with a great degree of uncertainty as to what the outcome might be.” 

At the time, opposition TDs claimed the planning reforms would have the opposite effect on what was intended and lead to significant delays of much-needed housing and infrastructure. They also accused the Government of barrelling through complicated legislation just prior to the election.

In its recommendations on the latest set of proposals, the cross-party committee said in order to ensure judicial reviews were heard promptly and without delay, additional judges should be appointed, with other staffing needs met as required.

“The committee recommends that priority should be given to filling all of the 541 technical and non-technical posts in local authority planning departments,” it added.

Separately, a survey of more than 2,000 people has found more than half (52%) say a lack of local infrastructure has changed their ideal location to buy, while 72% say planning delays are a major reason it takes too long to build homes in Ireland.

The survey from property website MyHome.ie suggests 83% are worried about the state of the property market in general, while just 7% say recent changes to housing policy have made it easier to buy a property.

“Prospective homebuyers are focusing on the reasons why it has taken so long to reverse the trend of insufficient housing completions, with planning and infrastructural issues top of mind,” said MyHome managing director Joanne Geary.

“This is not a problem that can be solved overnight, but progress needs to be made as a matter of urgency in areas such as vacant and derelict housing to allay people’s concerns.”