Judicial reviews that block vital infrastructure and housing will be restricted. At the same time, Ministers and top civil servants will be given direct responsibility for delivering specific reforms to accelerate projects, under a plan to be launched by the Government this morning.
The report of the accelerating infrastructure taskforce, intended to overcome increasing delays in the provision of vital public infrastructure and housing, was accepted in full by the Cabinet at its meeting yesterday and will now be implemented over the coming months.
It is understood that the report lays out an implementation plan which is broken down into specific actions by Government departments and public bodies, to be achieved by specific deadlines, many of them next year.
While each action will be primarily the responsibility of the individual department or agency, the report also clearly identifies that the minister and secretary general of the relevant departments are “fully responsible for the implementation of the action”.
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It is intended that this transparency will create political pressure to ensure the delivery of the reforms as quickly as possible. It will mean that it will be clear if Ministers and departments are not delivering on the reforms in the plan.
The group which drew up the report – including senior officials, the heads of utilities such as Uisce Éireann, ESB Networks and the Land Development Agency, and private sector figures including Sean O’Driscoll (formerly of Glen Dimplex) and Feargal O’Rourke, the chairman of the IDA – is to remain in place in an implementation oversight role.
The report is understood to be especially forthright on the need to reform the judicial review process, which critics say has been weaponised to prevent necessary developments.
It is expected to point the finger at the high number of judicial reviews, creating “longer timelines, higher costs, and cascading delays”. It will point out that minor flaws in processes identified in judicial review proceedings can cause years of delays.
It will say that unless there is a change now, “critical shortages of water and power will occur within a few short years and congestion on transport networks will inevitably grow”.
There will be changes to rules over legal costs to dissuade people from taking judicial reviews, while other reforms to the way judicial reviews work are due to be completed next year.
The Cabinet also agreed to open a six-week public consultation on changes to legal fees paid in environmental judicial reviews.
Further legal reforms will also be implemented to provide for emergency powers to push through critical infrastructure projects.
It is understood that a “clearing house” for utilities and transport will be established to increase co-ordination of the supply of vital supports for development in areas like housing between agencies and local authorities.
The report comes against a growing sense in Government that the slow rate of progress on home building – and the related difficulty in bringing forward big infrastructure projects – presents a significant political danger for the Coalition parties.
Government backbenchers are clamouring for delivery of projects and for visible results – but the long lead-in time for many projects means that changes made now may only bear fruit well into the future.
Although there are four years until the next election, many Coalition politicians – at all levels – feel a sense of impatience on the issue.
The fact that the group are staying in place to oversee implementation and the direct apportioning of ministerial and senior official responsibility for making the recommended changes, however, is seen as unusual in reports of this type.
“There is none of the normal waffle in this report,” said one person familiar with its contents.
