Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan has asked officials in his department to examine ways to limit the judicial review process so it can no longer be used by individuals to prevent or delay major housing or infrastructural projects.
Speaking at the annual General Liam Lynch Commemoration at Kilcrumper near Fermoy in north Cork, Mr O’Callaghan said no current challenge was more significant than housing and the delivery of infrastructure to support housing.
But this challenge, he said, was “being compounded by the utilisation of our laws in certain circumstances to delay, obfuscate and undermine the efficient delivery of vital projects which would benefit our communities and the common good as a whole”.
He said the use of judicial reviews, in particular, to prevent the delivery of vital accommodation, transport or environmental projects because of technical breaches of statutory rules or procedure was “abhorrent to the common good”.
“Laws are there to serve the common good and the people who put them in place through their elected representatives and they should not be viewed as a game that can be won or lost depending on absolute compliance with our ever-growing statutory architecture or rules of procedure.”
Mr O’Callaghan said the increasingly impactful and expansive judicial review process must be curtailed and he intends to address the issue with new legislation.
“I have asked my department to bring forward proposals to rebalance the judicial review procedure to ensure that the common good and public interest are at the centre of any judicial review process, in particular when examining vital infrastructure and housing projects,” he said.
Mr O’Callaghan told the commemoration that Ireland had achieved huge progress in the century since the death of Liam Lynch, a former chief of staff of the IRA, on the slope of the Knockmealdown Mountains on April 10th, 1923, in the latter stages of the Civil War.
Although Lynch never lived to see the establishment of Fianna Fáil by his comrade Éamon de Valera, he had been motivated by the same high ideals to create a genuine republic for all Irish citizens, he said.
Mr O’Callaghan said he agreed with Taoiseach Michéal Martin when he previously spoke at Kilcrumper saying Fianna Fáil was proud to have been founded by republicans of the generation that had secured independence from the British.
The Fianna Fáil ideal of creating a republic that seeks to advance the social and economic welfare of all and ensure equal opportunities for all Irish citizens, serving the interests of the entire population and not just a privileged few, has been the bedrock of the party’s enduring popularity, the Minister said.
“There is much to be proud of in how this small nation has advanced and maintained its economic and democratic life despite the most difficult of challenges. It did so without any natural resources save for the industry of its people,” he said.