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Irish Times

Planning objections have become a legal industry, official claims

The legal profession has turned planning objections into an 'industry' as people 'run down to the Four Courts' to block new projects, a member of the Government's infrastructure taskforce has said. Sean O'Driscoll, chairman of the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), said that in a democratic society, 'common good must always prevail over individual rights'. 'A very small number of people make a lot of noise, run down to the Four Courts to get a judicial review. And [they] are supported by the legal system, who are prepared to take their cases on a 'no fault with no fee' basis,' Mr O'Driscoll said. 'I think that that is wrong.' READ MORE Mr O'Driscoll is one of 12 people appointed to a new infrastructure taskforce attempting to unblock barriers to important economic projects. Announced in May by Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers , it forms part of a Government strategy to speed up delivery of schemes such as housing . Speaking on RTÉ Radio 1's Today with Claire Byrne show, Mr O'Driscoll said the bar for getting a judicial review against planning decisions was too low. Such judicial reviews give the public the opportunity to challenge planning decisions. 'Judicial reviews were put in place for a very good reason, but they were not put in place for what they are now being used for,' he said. Mr O'Driscoll also warned that Ireland would not be able to continue to attract international investment if it did not invest in data centres . 'You cannot attract companies like Apple, Microsoft, Google into Ireland and say to them, we'd like some of your jobs, but we're not going to provide you with data centres. We can provide them with data centres if we invest in our infrastructure,' he said. He dismissed a target of generating 5GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030, which had been backed by the Green Party . 'It is a myth, it won't happen, it isn't happening,' he said. 'A lot of those investors have left town, and they've decided Ireland is too difficult a place to do business in from a planning perspective.'