Judicial reviews and the planning system are “killing us”, Micheál Martin told a crowd of techies at the opening of Stripe’s new office complex in Dublin.
Between discussions with Stripe co-founder John Collison of his dislike of biscuits – “full of lard” – and descriptions of US president Donald Trump as “polite and courteous”, Martin was questioned about Ireland’s planning system.
“What is killing us is delivery, planning and judicial review,” the Taoiseach said.
“We do need to have a real debate about the public good versus what I might term the excessive assertion of individual rights,” he added.
READ MORE
“Ireland is an outlier in Europe in terms of the amount of planning that is happening in the judicial arena as opposed to the planning arena.”
Collison noted a specific case of a large solar farm development in east Cork being blocked on ecological grounds: “I thought that was a bit on the nose.”
The Stripe cofounder continued, mooting that the existing policies in the planning system have an “implied value system that I am not sure the Irish people would choose”.
The Taoiseach responded that there was an “absence of prioritisation” in the planning system and that there needs to be “more common sense” applied.
Even with “existential problems”, such as water infrastructure projects linking Dublin and the Shannon, Martin said there was “a real sense that we are going to drag this on for as long as we possibly can”.
Of course, the Taoiseach’s frustrations about the planning system are widely shared, and it is comforting that he harbours the same frustrations as can be heard across the country.
If only Martin had the power to fix the country’s planning issues.
