Martin pushes back on judicial reviews, says 'courts shouldn't be where planning gets determined'
TAOISEACH MICHEÁL MARTIN has signalled his support for comments made by the chair of Uisce Éireann in relation to judicial reviews delaying important developments.
The Fianna Fáil leader said today that he does not believe the courts are where planning applications should be determined.
The Taoiseach was asked about poor water infrastructure being an impediment to developing new housing after the chair of the Board of Uisce Éireann, Jerry Grant, said recently that judicial reviews have
slowed the delivery of important projects.
Grant made the comments in response to criticism from Tánaiste Simon Harris, who linked the delays in the delivery of housing to problems with water infrastructure.
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Grant defended his organisation and said that Uisce Éireann 'has never seen more judicial reviews', which are causing delays to housing projects.
He said this was making the delivery of new homes 'very challenging'.
'Every one of these is causing significant delay to projects and adding cost and deferring the opportunity to build houses,' he told
The Journal.
Asked about the impact of judicial delays today, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the Planning Act, which has not yet taken effect, will deal with this issue.
'My own view on it is that once we go through planning processes, once you go through the local authorities, once you go through An Bord Pleanála, the pre-planning before all of that, the courts should not be ultimately the place where planning applications get determined,' he said.
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