Increase in High Court challenges a key barrier to timely completion of infrastructure

Irish Times

5 days ago

A 20 per cent increase in judicial review challenges this year has been identified as a key barrier to timely completion of big
capital projects and housing
.
This assessment is made in a new report examining the sluggish delivery of critical infrastructure in the State.
The document points to a culture of risk aversion and excessive caution within the public service at the expense of timely decisions on projects.
Increased regulatory burdens (including examples of applications requiring 30,000 pages of information), slow appraisal processes and inconsistent planning decisions are also cited as drags on delivery.
READ MORE
Delivering the report on Tuesday, Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Jack Chambers
said people are 'immensely frustrated' at the pace of delivery and how this drives up costs.
The report, which identified 12 key barriers to development, said that despite record investment in capital projects, the time it takes to complete these projects has lengthened considerably.
Mr Chambers said it is clear from the report that delays are imposing limitations on the State's growth and development.
'Our electricity and water systems are approaching crisis points in many parts of our country that, if not addressed, will limit our ability to build the homes that we need and indeed provide for any of the other infrastructure, social or economic, that we need . . . We simply must do better by removing the barriers.'
A higher number of
High Court
judicial review cases is pinpointed, with evidence to show challenges to planning decisions have risen by a fifth this year compared to 2024.
The Minister said: 'I am deeply concerned that judicial review is too often being used as a mechanism and a tactic to obstruct and delay. This distorts the intended purpose of judicial review from a remedy of last resort to a tactical tool to delay infrastructure development.'
Saying Irish court processes were among the slowest in Europe, he argued the net effect is inordinately long delays and a significant spike in project costs.
He said it was having a 'serious chilling effect' on the commencement of projects.
Mr Chambers outlined the example of a judicial review challenge to the Greater Dublin Drainage Project in 2020, which necessitated the need for a revised planning application in July 2025. The project, aimed at dealing with waste water on the north side of the capital, will now not be completed until 2032, while the project development costs have doubled in the interim. The delay of almost a decade might also impede the development of housing in that area of
Dublin
.
[
Local authorities told to zone more land for housing, as national target more than doubles
Opens in new window
]
Mr Chambers said: 'It's easy to say that public bodies should simply ensure that all documentation is correct. But when Irish Water has to develop a planning application for projects that come to more than 30,000 pages, it's clear to me that process has grown far too excessive and is getting in the way of the common good.'
Mr Chambers said risk aversion in the public service is also a theme of the report. The risk of judicial challenge has resulted in regulatory bodies carrying out more in-depth assessments of applications to mitigate risk.
'While this increased scrutiny may have some benefits, it appears to be coming at the expense of timely decisions,' he added.
Over decades, he said, there has been a pattern of decentralising significant policy decisions to different agencies and regulatory bodies. This has slowed policies and decisions, he said.
His department received 170 submissions from the public and other stakeholders. A final report and an action plan addressing the identified barriers will be published in the autumn.