The Supreme Court has allowed the Attorney General to join An Taisce’s appeal over planning permission for a proposed cheese factory in Slieverue, Co Kilkenny, on condition that he bear his own costs.
In a judgment delivered on 21 December 2021, Mr Justice Gerard Hogan gave reasons for the Court’s decision at the end of a hearing on 13 December. The order permits the Attorney General to participate in the appeal as guardian of the public interest. It does not decide the appeal or the environmental law issues raised in it.
An Taisce is seeking to quash An Bord Pleanála’s 30 June 2020 decision to grant permission for the factory. The High Court dismissed its judicial review application in April 2021. The Supreme Court later granted leave for a direct appeal, and in an earlier judgment clarified the scope of the grounds An Taisce could pursue.
The appeal concerns, among other matters, whether the Board had to assess environmental effects linked to the milk supply needed for the plant, including possible downstream impacts on emissions and water quality. Those are An Taisce’s contentions; the Supreme Court’s judgment on joinder did not resolve them.
An Taisce opposed the Attorney General’s application, arguing that it came late, that no distinct constitutional or EU law point had been identified, and that the intervention would not serve the public interest. The Board and the developer did not object.
Mr Justice Hogan rejected the delay argument, noting that the Attorney General had moved promptly after the Court clarified the appeal’s scope and had outlined the case he wished to make. He said the application did not depend on identifying a legal point that the existing parties could not address. The relevant question was whether the case raised matters of public interest extending beyond the parties’ own interests.
The Court considered the appeal’s potential implications for environmental law standards and the planning of large industrial developments sufficient to engage that wider public interest. The judge also said courts were not equipped to resolve broad political debates about development and climate commitments without legal standards to guide them.
The Attorney General’s participation does not mean the Court accepts his future arguments, the judgment said. The main appeal was scheduled for hearing on 12 January 2022, according to the judgment.