Legislative Measures
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-16
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Jack Chambers (FF), Dublin West

I have read judgments that relate to section 15 and some of them do have a chilling effect on infrastructure delivery. I am not going to set out the judgment here - I do not have it in front of me - but I have concern with how the interpretation of section 15 as it relates to the infrastructure system presents a risk in overall delivery. There have been a number of judgments relating to section 15 that present risks, and I need to be clear about that. The deference to creating a legal avenue and risk to infrastructure delivery relating to section 15 has to be addressed in the context of delivery.
To take the most recent example, last week we had a permission validly given by An Coimisiún Pleanála relating to the ring road in Galway and we already have a particular NGO saying it is considering a case under section 15 for that particular infrastructure project. It has already gone through all of the statutory processes and has already gone to An Coimisiún Pleanála. The growth, the deference and the risk of all of these projects ending up in the courts bring a risk to infrastructure delivery.
There is a whole other extensive area of reforms that we are doing and we are trying to make it more efficient, but a lot of what we are trying to do here relates to building a low-carbon economy in terms of our grid, which has to be developed, and many of our transport projects, which are actually in public transport. We want to derisk appeals that are taking through judicial reviews. This is one element of it. Others relate to the work that the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, is doing and the work that the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, is doing around environmental legal fees as well. The judgment that was set out and the test that is given around that judgment presents risk and that is why are seeking to disapply section 15.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-16/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:49+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-16