Judicial system needs significant extra resources to avoid costly infrastructure delays, says Chambers Ireland
Chambers Ireland, the voice of business throughout Ireland, has said today said that our country’s infrastructure ambitions are in serious jeopardy unless significant reform of our under-resourced judicial system is implemented.
The chambers of commerce network says that the caseload and scale of activity within the courts is leading to costly delays and improved resourcing and restructuring is needed.
Following the publication today of Chambers Ireland’s submission to the Department of Justice’s Judicial Planning Working Group, their Chief Executive Ian Talbot said:
“Increasing the number of judges in our judicial system will be a key element to ensure the delivery of the National Development Plan and Housing for All strategy. The increase in projects will see a substantial increase in the number of planning permissions cases heard.
“To achieve our national objectives, we need an effective, consistent, and robust planning administration. A dedicated Environmental and Planning Court, modelled on the existing Commercial Court is critical to this.
“Delays caused by the planning permission process undermine our competitiveness, hinder our national development, and harm our quality of life. Urgent action is needed if we are to meet our green transition targets.”
The organisation has also said that delays within the Commercial Court harm our national competitiveness and are a burden on business.
Chambers Ireland Chief Executive, Ian Talbot continued:
“Legal delays create extra costs and risks for businesses. Covid-19 has created a backlog which has made a bad situation worse. Our courts need to expand their capacity to deal with these cases.
“Brexit means that Ireland is now the sole English-speaking common law jurisdiction within the Union. This will likely make us the jurisdiction of choice for many third countries that seek to trade with the EU. This will place extra demands upon our Commercial Court and needs to be adequately resourced.
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For more information, please contact Jonathan Baxter, communications and media executive at Chambers Ireland on 086 608 1605 or jonathan.baxter@chambers.ie.
Notes to the editor
The full Chambers Ireland submission to the Judicial Planning Working Group is available here.
About Chambers Ireland
Chambers Ireland is the voice of business throughout Ireland, with 40 member chambers across every major city, town and region of the island. Aligning our strategic priorities with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, our aim is to make places better to live, work and do business.
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