Plans to cap the legal fees that can be claimed from the State in environmental planning actions taken in the High Court against infrastructure and housing projects are to move a step forward this week.
It comes as the Government is also expected to publish its accelerating infrastructure plan in the coming days.
The Cabinet is expected to be briefed on proposals to impose limits on the legal costs that litigants can claim from the State, even if they succeed in a judicial review challenge against a planning decision.
Minister for the Environment Darragh O’Brien is set to update colleagues on the matter in advance of the opening of a public consultation period.
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The intention is for the plans to be finalised for implementation after the public consultation finishes early in the new year.
The level of the caps will depend on the legal complexity of the case, but it is understood that under the proposals, the limit would stand at just under €41,000 for a standard case up to the end of a first instance hearing in the High Court. There would be a limit at the same stage in proceedings of about €53,350 for complex cases and €65,800 for very complex cases.
Such moves would apply to High Court cases taken under the Aarhus Convention, an international agreement that governs access to justice in environmental matters.
A source said the objective in introducing the proposed scale of fees is to reduce the financial burden on the exchequer in relation to environmental judicial reviews. They said it is “not to restrict access to justice” or “constrain the right of individuals or communities to challenge decisions”.
The planned move is taking place against a backdrop of broader planned efforts by the Government to stem the tide of legal actions that have held up schemes relating to wastewater, roads and housing.
Under the accelerating infrastructure plan, Government departments are to investigate and implement reforms to the judicial review regime.
The Irish Times understands this includes examining measures to prioritise objectors who are directly affected by projects rather than those who are not directly affected.
There is also to be consideration of the appropriateness of legal fee structures, including those cases taken on a “no foal no fee” basis by lawyers, where litigants incur no fees if they lose.
Planning delays, including legal challenges, have affected the Greater Dublin Drainage Project.
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The MetroLink rail line is facing delay after it emerged last week that judicial review proceedings have been taken against the plans by a group of Ranelagh residents living near the planned southern terminus of MetroLink.
At the weekend, Fine Gael TD Colm Burke raised concern at a recent increase in the number of judicial review cases against planning authority An Coimisiún Pleanála, previously known as An Bord Pleanála. He obtained figures showing that there were more than 628 cases since 2020, with 253 of these in 18 months up to the end of June this year alone.
On Sunday, Minister for Infrastructure Jack Chambers told RTÉ Radio that judicial reviews are a “significant problem” in infrastructure delivery, that people are getting “totally fed up and frustrated” at this, and there must be reform that “rebalances the systems that we have.”
In terms of other measures in the infrastructure plan, Mr Chambers indicated that Government departments and State agencies could see funding withheld or withdrawn if they fail to make land available for infrastructure projects.
He said: “As Minister for Public Expenditure, I provide sanction on spending. So as far as I’m concerned, any agency or department that withholds land which is required for critical infrastructure, they’ll have a change to their sanction, and that will have to be advanced as a means to force co-operation.”
