The High Court ordered a temporary stay of a foreshore licence for site investigations linked to the proposed Dublin Array offshore wind farm, citing the risk of environmental harm. The order halted new work under the licence after a limited 24-hour period to wind down work already under way and complete health and safety measures.
The applicants are Ivan Toole and Golden Venture Fishing Limited. They sought to challenge a five-year licence granted to RWE Renewables Ireland Limited for geotechnical and geophysical investigations, ecological monitoring and measurements of wind, waves and currents off Dublin and Wicklow. The Ministers for Housing and for Agriculture were also parties to the proceedings.
The licence was executed on 13 January 2023. The judgment records that RWE had begun drilling when the interim application was heard on 8 May. The applicants raised concerns about environmental effects and argued, among other things, that a licence condition suggested relevant information about potential geogenic reef had not been before the Minister when the licence was granted. The judgment also records an alleged collision between a boat chartered by RWE and static fishing gear belonging to Golden Venture; it does not make a finding about that allegation.
Justice Humphreys found the applicants had established an arguable case for the purposes of interim relief. In weighing the competing interests, he considered the risk to environmental interests, the licence’s status as a decision presumed valid, the renewable energy project’s public interest, and the fact that work had started before the stay application. On the material then before him, he concluded that the environmental risk favoured a stay. He said that assessment could be reconsidered after further evidence and submissions.
The court allowed RWE until 4pm on 9 May to wind down existing work and take health and safety measures, but prohibited new steps under the licence. It did not require an undertaking as to damages at that stage. The stay was interim; it did not decide whether the licence was lawful.
On 12 May, the proceedings were admitted to the Commercial Planning and Environmental List, time was extended if legally necessary without prejudice to later objections, and leave for judicial review was granted on standard terms. The court scheduled the interlocutory stay application for hearing on 23 May and fixed 19 June as the return date for the substantive motion. The judgment records those later procedural steps but does not state the eventual outcome of either application.