This month, the Government introduced new regulations establishing a structured scale of legal fees for environmental judicial review proceedings, marking another step in its wider programme of planning and infrastructure reform.

Signed by Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment, Darragh O’Brien, and Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform, and Digitalisation, Jack Chambers, the regulations give effect to provisions contained in Section 294 of the Planning and Development Act 2024 and came into force on 18 May 2026.

Under the previous system, where an environmental judicial review was successful, public bodies could be liable for the applicant’s legal costs without a prescribed framework, creating uncertainty around financial exposure. The new regulations introduce a defined scale of recoverable costs for successful applicants, while retaining judicial discretion.

According to Government, this reform is intended to create greater certainty and consistency in environmental litigation, reducing unpredictable costs to the Exchequer while supporting more efficient delivery of infrastructure and environmental projects. The changes form part of the Government’s Accelerating Infrastructure Report and Action Plan, which aims to address barriers to infrastructure delivery across sectors, including energy, transport and public services.

Importantly, both Ministers emphasised that the regulations do not alter access to justice provisions or remove the right of individuals and communities to challenge decisions through the courts. Instead, the stated objective is to maintain those protections while introducing a clearer and more transparent cost framework.

The final regulations reflect feedback received through public consultation and include:

• Differentiated fee structures for standard, complex and very complex cases; and
• A modular fee structure for proceedings that are divided into distinct stages or components.

Dublin Chamber welcomes this development as a practical and proportionate reform and supports the broader programme of measures set out in the Accelerating Infrastructure Report and Action Plan. A more efficient, predictable and transparent planning system will be critical to strengthening planning certainty, accelerating the delivery of strategic infrastructure across Ireland and supporting sustainable economic growth.

For more, see here.