Planning and Development Act 2024
|
Regulation of costs payable in respect of prescribed matters | ||
|
294. (1) Subject to subsections (3) and (4) of section 293 , and notwithstanding section 169 of the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015 and Order 99 of the Rules of the Superior Courts ( S.I. No. 15 of 1986 ), the following shall be in accordance with the monetary amounts prescribed under subsection (2) in relation to each matter so prescribed: | ||
(a) the costs awarded to an applicant, in respect of proceedings to which this Chapter applies and in which the applicant succeeds in obtaining relief; | ||
(b) the contribution made from the environmental legal costs financial assistance mechanism to the costs of an applicant in relation to whom a determination under paragraph (b) or (c) of subsection (3) of section 297 and under paragraph (b) or (c) of subsection (4) of section 297 is made, in respect of proceedings to which this Chapter applies and in which the applicant does not succeed in obtaining relief, or succeeds in obtaining relief only in part; | ||
(c) the contribution made from the environmental legal costs financial assistance mechanism to the costs awarded to the applicant under subsection (7) of section 298 . | ||
(2) The Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications shall— | ||
(a) after consulting with the Minister and the Minister for Justice, and | ||
(b) with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, | ||
prescribe monetary amounts for the purposes of subsection (1), and in doing so may prescribe different such amounts in respect of any or all of the following: | ||
(i) different types of legal work conducted by legal practitioners; | ||
(ii) different types of legal proceedings and applications; | ||
(iii) different court jurisdictions in which proceedings are taken; | ||
(iv) proceedings of differing durations; | ||
(v) work carried out by different categories of legal practitioners, including by reference to the amount of experience possessed by, and the nature of legal qualification of, the legal practitioner. | ||
(3) Before making regulations under subsection (2), the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications shall have regard to— | ||
(a) the need to ensure that proceedings to which this Chapter applies can be taken by applicants in a manner that is not prohibitively expensive, | ||
(b) the need for equitable and orderly access to the courts for all persons to be ensured in accordance with law, | ||
(c) the need to ensure that court and judicial resources are utilised for the common good and in the interests of justice, and | ||
(d) the cost to the Exchequer of matters provided for in such regulations. | ||
(4) The Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications shall conduct a review of the monetary amounts prescribed in regulations made under subsection (2), in consultation with the Minister and the Minister for Justice, not less than once in every period of 5 years after the making of the regulations. |