The Supreme Court dismissed John Conway’s appeal and affirmed the High Court order, holding that specific planning policy requirements (SPPRs) made under section 28(1C) of the Planning and Development Act 2000 did not breach the Constitution.
The Court unanimously concluded that the SPPRs did not infringe Article 28A, which recognises local government, and that the Oireachtas had not abdicated its lawmaking function under Article 15.2 by allowing the Minister to make them. The Court also agreed that the SPPRs, although not statutory instruments, must be published and that the publication requirement was met in this case.
The appeal arose from a challenge connected to planning permission granted by An Bord Pleanála. Chief Justice O’Donnell said the constitutional challenge was not specifically tied to the development or necessarily to the content of the SPPRs at issue. He described the parties’ agreement, reached before the High Court hearing, as having made the constitutional question abstract while allowing the permission in this case to remain immune from challenge if the legal argument succeeded. He said a court should be slow to endorse that arrangement, but agreed the appeal should be heard given the High Court’s determination and the broader importance of the issues.
On Article 15.2, the Chief Justice said the SPPR power applied to a limited part of planning functions and operated in a technical area requiring flexibility. The statutory framework contained discernible principles and policies, and the Oireachtas had not surrendered its constitutional role. The requirement to lay guidelines before the Oireachtas and the Minister’s accountability to the Dáil also weighed in favour of validity.
The judgment records differences among the judges on some points of legal theory. The Court’s unanimous conclusions resolved the appeal; the Chief Justice’s additional observations addressed standing, legislative delegation and publication. The judgment does not set out a new decision on the underlying planning permission.