Emergency legislation to help accelerate the rollout of key infrastructure projects had not yet been discussed, Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment Darragh O’Brien said.
On Friday, his Cabinet colleague and Minister of Public Expenditure, Jack Chambers, said the Government was to begin drafting emergency legislation that would give it powers to bypass planning and other approval steps.
“That hasn’t been discussed,” O’Brien said when subsequently asked about the move.
He said recent legislative changes meant there was now “a good planning architecture in place” and that he had a very good relationship with environmental NGOs which had a right to make observations.
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“It’s not about shutting people out and I don’t think that’s what Minister Chambers is talking about either but it’s about ensuring that the processes we have are more efficient.”
Chambers had said it was important such provisions were “in the arsenal of Government, because people want to see us get things done and drive delivery against the record level of capital investment we have”.
Senior Government figures said on Friday that such emergency legislation, to be drafted in the autumn, was aimed at getting around some existing approval steps, including planning in some cases.
Such laws, they maintained, could be at the extremity of what was constitutionally permitted and would have to be carefully drafted given the likelihood of legal challenges.
Chambers also said the Government would disapply elements of environmental legislation in relation to key capital developments considered to be critical. He said: “Section 15 of the Climate Act has been used and weaponised by certain individuals who want to stop projects.”
Chambers highlighted objections to the planned Galway City Ring Road, which he said the Government wanted to accelerate, arguing it was “a matter for Government to decide what projects we want to fund and deliver”.
“It is not for NGOs to dictate that to Government, or to use our court system, to fundamentally delay projects.”
Chambers was speaking on Friday as he designated nine developments as critical infrastructure projects, meaning they would “effectively go to the top of the queue for faster processing and decision making”.
The nine projects include Dublin’s MetroLink; the Cork Area Commuter Rail Programme; the Galway City Ring Road; the Water Supply Project for the Eastern and Midlands Region; and the Greater Dublin Drainage Project.
The Limerick (Bunlicky) Wastewater Treatment Plant upgrade and Bioresource Centre; the North South 400 kV Interconnector; the Moneypoint 400 kV Series Capacitor Project; and the Letterkenny 110 kV Redevelopment Project also fall under the new designation.
The Department of Public Expenditure said a typical capital project required dozens of licences, permissions and consents from a wide range of public bodies as it passed through the approval process.
As well as planning permission, any project that may impact on a marine area requires consent from the Maritime Area Regulatory Authority, while any development that could have an impact on the environment typically requires Environmental Protection Agency authorisation.
“Designation under the Critical Infrastructure Act requires every public body involved in these processes to accelerate these licences, consents and permission to the maximum degree possible,” it said.
The Minister maintained that by disapplying elements of the Climate Act it would reduce the potential for judicial reviews against particular projects going ahead.
He criticised excessive use of the courts “when we have an elected Government”.
“Our wider obligations to meet our climate targets can’t just be seen through the prism, whether we’re going to build a particular ring road or not,” he said.
“We have multiple objectives across many departments, and it’s not for NGOs or advocates to dictate to Government, whether we should progress a particular project.”
