The Court of Appeal has rejected applications by Ireland and the Attorney General to strike out two appeals over a proposed 13-turbine windfarm in Co Westmeath. The court held that the appeals could proceed without leave from the High Court under section 50A(7) of the Planning and Development Act 2000.
The appeals were brought by North Westmeath Turbine Action Group and North Westmeath Turbine Action Group Company Limited by Guarantee. They concern separate High Court orders striking out the proceedings against the State as bound to fail and refusing the group’s application to amend its statement of grounds. The underlying judicial review challenges An Bord Pleanála’s decision of 26 March 2019 to grant planning permission for the windfarm in Coole and adjacent townlands.
The State argued that the High Court decisions were determinations of an application for judicial review, meaning the appellants first needed High Court leave to appeal. The Court of Appeal considered whether section 50A(7), which limits appeals from specified planning decisions, covered either order.
Mr Justice Maurice Collins said the section did not cover a decision refusing an amendment application. He also held that the decision to strike out the proceedings against the State had been made on the State’s separate motion, rather than on the hearing of the appellants’ judicial review application. The provision therefore did not require leave to appeal that order either.
The court said the restriction on appeal must be clear and unambiguous, and rejected the State’s proposed case-by-case approach based on whether a particular decision had, in substance, determined the judicial review. It relied on Supreme Court decisions concerning similar appeal restrictions, including A v Minister for Justice.
The judgment records that the High Court had struck out the case against the State after finding it bound to fail and had refused the proposed amendments. The Court of Appeal expressly said the correctness of those conclusions was not before it at this stage. The judicial review had separately been heard against An Bord Pleanála, with judgment reserved and not yet delivered when the Court of Appeal gave its ruling.
The Court of Appeal dismissed the State’s applications. It did not decide the two appeals themselves; it ruled that the appellants were entitled to have them heard and determined in the ordinary way.