Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 22 February 2022
355. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if his Department has ever issued a circular in relation to section 50B of the Planning and Development Act 2000. [9398/22]
View answerMy Department issued Circular Letter PL 09-2018 on 9 November 2018 advising planning authorities of the commencement of various provisions contained in the Planning and Development (Amendment) Act 2018 further to the signing of the Planning and Development (Amendment) Act 2018 (Commencement) Order 2018 (S.I. No. 436/2018).
Amongst the provisions commenced was an amendment to Section 50B of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, which extended the section 50B special legal cost rules to judicial reviews of decisions, actions or omissions made under national law implementing the Appropriate Assessment provisions of the Habitats Directive. This supplemented the pre-existing section 50B provisions applying the special legal cost rules to judicial reviews of decisions, actions or omissions made under national law implementing the EU Strategic Environmental Assessment Directive (the SEA Directive) and those elements of the EU Environmental Impact Assessment Directive (the EIA Directive) and the EU Integrated Pollution Protection and Control Directive (the IPPC Directive) providing for the challenging of decisions, acts or omissions subject to public participation.
