JUDICIAL REVIEWS ARE being used to “weaponise” against the public good, the Minister for Public Expenditure said today.
Minister Jack Chambers was speaking on RTÉ’s This Week addressing concerns over judicial reviews slowing down the implementation of critical infrastructure in Ireland.
During the week, there was outrage as the long-awaited Metrolink project received a last-minute objection from 20 residents of an affluent Ranelagh neighbourhood.
Paul Davis of DCU said that if the judicial review goes ahead, the best case scenario was that it bring a delay of 6-9 months, but 12-18 months was more realistic. In the worst case scenario, there could be a delay of 2-4 years, Davis said.
The Journal visited Ranelagh to speak to residents to see what their main gripe with the construction of Metrolink going ahead was. Many weren’t keen to talk, but among the reasons cited in the objection were concerns over the impact of housing prices in the area, the noise levels during construction, and congestion in the area.
Chambers today said, “We’ve seen judicial reviews play a really significant problem now in overall infrastructure delivery.
“We saw the reaction from people last week when it came to Metrolink, and essentially small procedural issues in many instances are being used and weaponised to impede the public good, with the social and economic objective of driving infrastructure delivery.”
He said he feels that people across society “are totally fed up and frustrated” that procedural issues are being escalated to the courts.
Chambers also noted the massive surge in judicial reviews over the past year.
This morning, Fine Gael TD Colm Burke said he was concerned over the number of cases being taken, pointing out that the number of judicial review cases taken against planning authority An Coimisiún Pleanála has averaged 17 cases per month since the start of 2025.
In the last 18 months 253 cases were taken. In the previous four years, the average number of cases was less than 100 per annum, or around eight per month.
Burke said the increase in judicial reviews is “placing a significant strain on Ireland’s planning system” and called upon Housing Minister James Browne to review the efficient and integrity of the planning process.
Chambers pointed to other critical infrastructure projects slowed by judicial reviews, including the Greater Dublin Drainage Project. The drainage project is to establish a new regional wastewater treatment facility. The project received planning permission in 2019. A judicial review was lodged in 2020.
Planning permission was once again granted for the project in July 2025. In September 2025, a second judicial review was taken that remains ongoing.
Chambers said he would be taking actions next year to advance a critical infrastructure bill that would accelerate critical infrastructure projects – like the Greater Dublin Drainage Project – through the planning process.
“Secondly, developing emergency powers that seeks to go to the edge of what’s legally and constitutionally possible to rebalance rights in the Irish economy,” he said.
The Minister said that no residents’ association “should supersede the public good and the common good”.
