On 24 July 2018 The High Court gave the green light to CHASE (Cork Harbour Alliance for a Safe Environment) to launch a judicial review of Bord Pleanála’s May 29 permission for a waste incinerator at Ringaskiddy.
The case returned to Court Monday, 30 July 2018, so that the Judge could fix a timetable for procedural steps that must be taken before the trial and fixed 12 February 2019 as the commencement date of the trial with eight days allocated for the hearing.
Since getting the green light to launch a judicial review on 24 July, extensive court documents have been served on the Board and the developers by CHASE’s solicitors.
Mr Justice Barniville directed the Board and the developers to file their full written responses to the CHASE case by October 12 and 26 respectively.
In granting leave to take judicial review, The High Court was satisfied that CHASE had passed the test to be allowed to bring the challenge. The test requires an applicant to show that there are substantial legal grounds for contending that the decision ought to be quashed or is invalid. The applicant must also show they have the necessary legal interest in the case.
CHASE Chairperson Mary O’Leary welcomed the decision, “This incinerator should not have been permitted. We believe the Board was wrong to go against its Inspector’s recommendation to refuse. That recommendation was continuing a pattern – every one of the three Senior Planning Inspectors involved since 2003 has declared the site unsuitable. Each of them has walked the site.
We are very glad that this application for permission to bring the judicial review has succeeded. Our legal team will continue to prepare for the full hearing.
This action has been made possible by the great support we have had from thousands of people who have a positive vision for Cork Harbour and who are outraged at the Board’s decision. We all know that this is the wrong development in the wrong place. The Board will not listen to its own Inspectors so now they will have to listen to us in Court”.
CHASE were represented in Court by Maurice Collins SC, David Holland SC and Alan Keating BL, and by Noonan Linehan Carroll Coffey, Solicitors.