Fred Logue

High Court hears dispute over new Government apartment guidelines Judge canvasses possibility of case being referred to European Court

High Court hears dispute over new Government apartment guidelines

Judge canvasses possibility of case being referred to European Court

www.irishtimes.com/crime-law/co...

Full article here

archive.is/b17yW

Fred Logue: Judicial reviews are not the enemy of progress — they are a vital safeguard Judicial review is a way for ordinary people to ensure that laws protecting their homes, communities and the environment are enforced.

Judicial reviews are not the enemy of progress — they are a vital safeguard

Recent headlines have been flooded with a false narrative about the planning system

www.independent.ie/opinion/comm...

I expect the trend to continue downwards (at least in litigation by the public) into 2026 as decision-making in An Coimisiún Pleanála continues to improve.

2024 appears to be an outlier, and if you discount that we can see that the trend is now generally down again reflecting the effect of reforms in An Coimisiún Pleanála and developments in case law

This tallies with my data, and is why I publish it. The rise in litigation around 2020 was due to the defunct SHD process and to a lesser extent the Heather Hill High Court judgment in 2019 (notably the 2022 Supreme Court ruling was not followed by an increase)

So it seems the claim of 30% increase in judicial review in 2025 was based on the number to 26 June & *a guess* at a number for July to Dec (which wasn’t fact checked & is wrong)

.. & that erroneous claim is the entire justification for govt plan to limit access to the courts #Speirgorm #Planning

Even those numbers are bogus since the "resolved by court" column includes formal orders where cases have been conceded or withdrawn, i.e. ones that manifestly resolved by court, unless that phrase is given a totally different meaning to what you and I understand it to mean

It's £2 mil? In Devon? FFS

New fast food drive thru approved as part of restaurant and retail hub in Drogheda A major redevelopment has been approved for the Maxol site on Donore Road, transforming the former McCabe’s Garden Centre area into a new food and retail hub that will include three restaurant units, ...

And people wonder why Drogheda town centre is in terminal decline

m.independent.ie/regionals/lo...

If I had failed a responsibility to deliver housing and infrastructure for decades, I too might try to build a narrative blaming my failure on third parties (courts, lawyers, citizens, The Goblin Prince Under The Mountain).

But I see no reason, bar abject power worship, for anyone to repeat it.

🧵⚖️🧵

It isn't but you need to find a lawyer to explain it to you - most people (rightly) assume the default position is that you might lose your house if you take a planning case

If those proposals on capping legal costs for planning JRs go through (they won’t) we will need a dozen extra judges to cope with all the lay litigation that will spring up as a result

Believe me when I say that NOBODY benefits from that

Has the Government transposed the ADR clause in RED III? ADR would avoid litigation by resolving disputes at an early stage - something that's quite topical at the moment.

Make up your own mind based on this PQ response

www.kildarestreet.com/wrans/?id=20...

Common sense innit

Kilkenny couple did the public an enormous service in bringing State to heel over phone mast decision Kilkenny couple Peter and Doreen Thomson have also shown that, in the Government’s current attempts to stifle access to review of questionable decisions made by State actors, we are heading down a ver...

Kilkenny couple did the public an enormous service in bringing State to heel over phone mast decision

www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/comm...

Planning and Environment Litigation Tracker

Here's the link

docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

It is true that JRs generally are up this year, but that says nothing about a particular sector without drilling down into it.

The level of disinformation is stunning, we are proposing introducing swinging and unlawful restrictions on access to the courts in environment based on totally bogus data

Anyone, even the government, can go and look at the database that I maintain if you don't believe me.

The "bad" JRs, i.e. the ones they don't like taken by "objectors" to "block" development are down 30%

Planning JRs this year are down almost 20% compared to the same point in time last year, but I suppose the cabinet wants to hear what it wants to hear in this post-truth world.

Planning board drops defence of case taken against granting of permission to build telecommunications mast An Coimisiún Pleanála told Peter Thomson, who had initially objected to the construction of a telecommunications mast adjacent to his home, that it would no longer be opposing the quashing of the orig...

Why access to justice is important 👇

www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-41...

‘Too small to matter’ is the laziest-possible excuse in climate debate At a time of crisis, co-operation is the only way to resolve the climate collective-action problem

Ireland's emissions "too small to matter" argument fails on every level – mathematical, physical, legal, moral – and defies basic common sense.

- @hannahdaly.ie www.irishtimes.com/environment/... #ClimateEmergency

New DART and Luas lines, which ALREADY HAVE planning permission, are being delayed 4-5 years. This is a direct consequence of the Government’s decision to spend less on public transport.

Only 3 JRs against Commission in November, 1 NGO, 1 developer and 1 group of individuals

In Sep24 in the midst of full‑scale war, Ukraine’s parliament rejected an industry driven proposal to weaken EIA and open old‑growth, high‑conservation Carpathian forests to logging.

Paul Hosford: The Government says it’s not them — it’s us. But is that really why nothing gets built? Record NDP funding promises transformation, yet transport and housing projects continue to drift as political choices and systemic delays collide

Paul Hosford: The Government says it’s not them — it’s us. But is that really why nothing gets built?

www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/colu...

Only 3 JRs against Commission in November, 1 NGO, 1 developer and 1 group of individuals

Case taken in January, State doesn't bother to file their opposition papers until June, the case is immediately heard in July and judgment delivered in November. An Bord Pleanála took three years to make a decision. But JRs are the problem?

www.irishtimes.com/crime-law/co...