Environment groups challenge costs measures
Two environmental campaign groups have begun a legal challenge to new regulations that cap the legal costs that litigants in environmental cases can recover if they are successful.
The Planning and Development (Costs of Part 9 Judicial Review Proceedings) Regulations 2026, which came into operation in May, introduce a scale of fees for environmental judicial reviews.
Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment Darragh O'Brien has said that the measures introduce “manageable and predictable” legal costs and ensure “a streamlined system that balances environmental concerns with the greater public good”.
‘Not prohibitively expensive’
An Taisce and Friends of the Irish Environment argue, however, that the rules are in breach of the Aarhus Convention and EU law.
The Law Society has also raised concerns about the measures.
The convention requires that access to justice be “fair, equitable, timely and not prohibitively expensive”. The two groups say that the regulations are in breach of the ‘not prohibitively expensive’ requirement.
“If a public body makes a serious mistake in relation to the environment, ordinary individuals will have to pay thousands to go to court to correct it,” they say.
Public ‘penalised’
“Members of the public will be penalised for protecting the environment in the public interest and the common good, and for helping the public body properly execute its functions,” the two groups add.
“While ordinary members of the public will have their legal budgets severely curtailed, public bodies, the State and developers will remain free to spend unlimited amounts on their lawyers to defend their projects, regardless of the environmental impacts,” they state.
The case is due for initial hearing on 5 October.