Public consultation on reforms to judicial review provisions in Planning Act

Mr. Eoghan Murphy T.D. Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government has today (9 December 2019) announced a public consultation on proposed reforms to the Judicial Review (JR) provisions in the Planning and Development Act 2000 (as amended), as outlined in the new General Scheme of the Housing and Planning and Development Bill 2019. This will run for 7 weeks until the 27 January 2020.

The General Scheme is now published on the Department’s website and includes proposed legislative reforms to the Judicial Review provisions as follows:

to provide that JR challenges shall be restricted to decisions made by An Bord Pleanála,

to revert to the previous “motion on notice” approach instead of the current “motion exparte” approach for the purposes of JR leave applications to the courts

to revise the “substantial grounds” and “sufficient interest” criteria for the purposes of granting JR leave applications
to revise the criteria of environmental NGOs to take JR proceedings and to avail of the special costs rules applicable to JRs
to revise the special legal costs rules in relation to JR proceedings (i.e. introduction of new cost capping arrangements)

Further details on the proposed reforms are outlined in the General Scheme and its associated explanatory notes. Submissions are invited from interested parties and this process will inform the further development of the draft legislation.

Submissions can be made before 5pm Monday 27 January 2020 via email to the following email address planning@housing.gov.ie with the subject line ‘Housing and Planning and Development Bill 2019’; or by writing to

Housing and Planning and Development Bill 2019 Submissions

Address:

Planning Policy and Legislation Section, Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Custom House, Dublin, D01 W6X0

Link to Public Consultation