‘Over the moon’ with High Court victory

Cork County Council’s High Court victory over a Minister’s attempts to halt plans for a €100 million retail outlet centre in the county has been hailed as a “fantastic day for local democracy”.

There was an atmosphere of joy in County Hall this week when councillors met for the first time since Friday’s ruling.

The ruling saw Mr Justice Richard Humphreys reject Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage Darragh O'Brien’s direction to annul a change to the Cork County Development Plan (CDP) providing for the retail outlet in the east of the county. The Office of the Planning Regulator (OPR) had originally suggested to Minister O'Brien that the retail outlet centre should not be part of Cork’s CDP after carrying out an independent assessment of the council’s planning and zoning decisions.

Speaking during a Cork County Council meeting on Monday, East Cork Cllr Michael Hegarty (Fine Gael) said the decision was certainly the right result and called for those responsible for attempting to halt the development to “step aside”.

“At the end of all of this, it's the democracy of the local authority that is the cornerstone. We went beyond the call of duty to ensure that what we were doing for our county and the region was correct. I feel very strongly that the relevant people involved in making this recommendation should step aside until this is brought to conclusion,” he said.

Cllr Hegarty added the issue now needs to be debated at Oireachtas level so that the same thing won’t happen to other local authorities around the country.

“I think those of us here on the ground know what is best for our county and our region,” said the councillor.

Also commenting in County Hall was Carrigaline Cllr Seamus McGrath (Fianna Fáil) who praised his colleagues and the County Council Executive on seeking the correct legal advice and doing what was best for the county.

He said: “When a decision you make is called into question like that and essentially quashed, it's a very serious step. You could ask yourself ‘did we do something wrong?’ but we didn't. We followed every procedure to the letter of the law and took the decision properly and in good faith. The judge’s decision has shown us to be right in that.”

Cllr McGrath added that he hopes the decision will have widespread consequences across the country with regard to local government. In especially fine spirits was West Cork Cllr Joe Carroll (FF) who said he was “over the moon” with the decision and that Friday was of the greatest days for Cork County Council since he was elected. “This was the greatest assault I've ever seen on local democracy. In my short time at Cork County Council going back to 2004, I've noticed at all times the constant erosion of councillors’ powers. If we hadn’t won this thing we might as well pack our bags and go home,” he said.

Speaking during his Judgement on Friday, Mr Justice Richard Humphreys said: “It seems to me that the Minister asked himself the wrong question. It is clear from the submissions made to the Court that the Minister considered that section 31 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 permitted him to impose, by direction, his own views on the proper planning and development of an area over those of the elected local representatives. For the reasons which I have sought to analyse, it does not seem to me that the Act entitles the Minister to do that.”