Any “honest conversation” about the fitness for purpose of Ireland’s planning system must be held against the backdrop of housing supply being among “the greatest challenges facing the State”, the Attorney General has said.
Housing construction is a policy priority for Government and planning law “must operate to facilitate the realisation of our societal objectives, not to frustrate them”, Rossa Fanning told a conference of planning lawyers on Friday.
He said this is why the Government is seeking to progress the Planning and Development Bill, which will have “significant consequences” for all forms of development and will seek to ensure that planning decisions are made, and disputes resolved, “as efficiently as possible”.
The Bill does not seek to depart from “an integral component of the rule of law”, that decisions by public bodies should be subject to judicial review and oversight of the courts, he said.
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“However, if the practical reality is that the [High Court] supervisory jurisdiction is being invoked in virtually every development of consequence, it is necessary to pose the question as to whether we have got the balance right.”
Where the Oireachtas has designated planning authorities, and the proposed new planning commission, as the appropriate decision-makers on planning matters, he said it “behoves us all to reflect whether a system that frequently requires multiple High Court judgments before a single block of apartments can be built is functioning as intended”.
To meet the needs of society, planning law must strike “a delicate balance” between maintaining public participation in the planning process and the right of access to the courts, and ensuring important public and private sector projects can be delivered swiftly to meet the pace of demand.
The Bill strikes that balance, he said, including by providing “clearer” rules on the legal standing of environmental bodies and NGOs to bring legal challenges. He said “genuine environmental organisations with a history of advocacy in this area” will continue to have such standing.
The mammoth piece of legislation, scheduled for committee stage consideration in the Seanad next week, remains controversial, with concerns that it limits Oireachtas oversight of Government-approved planning statements and reduces to eight weeks the time permitted to bring certain judicial review challenges.
[ Seanad to sit three days next week to pass two key Government BillsOpens in new window ]
In his address to the annual conference of the Planning, Environment and Local Government Bar Association, Mr Fanning praised the “groundbreaking” work of the new planning and environment division of the High Court, which has three specialist judges and became formally operational last December.
Senior counsel Stephen Dodd, chair of the association, said there has been a “subtle shift” in the profile of cases coming before the planning court, with fewer challenges to housing developments following the ending of strategic housing development laws. This controversial procedure allowed developers to bypass local planning authorities to seek permission directly from An Bord Pleanála.
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