Sir, – Phoebe Duvall of An Taisce correctly calls out the serious inequalities that will be created by this Government’s ongoing efforts to restrict access to judicial review in the name of accelerating infrastructure (“Faster and fairer: Balancing speed and accountability in the planning system,” March 26th).
We should all be concerned by the latest of these proposals in the Civil Reform Bill currently before the Oireachtas Justice Committee. These changes will operate well beyond the planning sphere to impact the many areas of public life where judicial review is often the final backstop on the power of the State.
These include cases involving essential housing supports for homeless women and children fleeing domestic violence, access to education, timely disability assessments and availability of aftercare supports, as well as climate and environmental accountability.
Instead of restricting access to justice, the Government’s focus should be on ensuring lawful, fair and rational decision-making by public bodies, supported by robust and transparent appeals systems and well-resourced courts that can deal with cases promptly as a last resort. – Yours, etc,
RM Block
AOIFE KELLY-DESMOND,
CEO of the Community Law & Mediation and the Centre for Environmental Justice,
Dublin 17.
