Legal advice shows taking a judicial review against the ministerial order on the Kerry County Development Plan would be “irrational” and “almost certainly doomed to failure”.
Chief Executive of Kerry County Council, Moira Murrell sought independent legal advice, after previously being questioned about the possibility of a judicial review.
This advice comes after Minister of State with responsibility for Local Government and Planning, Peter Burke issued an order to alter the county development plan, changing proposals made by councillors on wind energy and planning applications.
The new plan became policy on December 5th when the ministerial order was signed; if a judicial review was taken, the Kerry County Development Plan could be paused and national legislation would be used until an outcome was finalised.
In April, councillors introduced a measure to the Kerry County Development Plan which would restrict construction of wind farms to Kilgarvan only, saying other areas had reached capacity.
They also inserted an amendment to favourably consider commercial and residential planning applications which need access onto main roads.
These have now been deleted from the county development plan, after the Office of the Planning Regulator objected and made recommendations to the Minister, who then issued a final direction to scrap the councillors' amendments.
Minister Burke agreed to re-insert the original proposal by council planners, which reduced the area open for consideration for wind farms by 90% compared to the previous plan.
Councillors discussed the issue at length during Monday's council meeting, where CEO Moira Murrell stated the direction of Minister Burke was “fair”; she also outlined the impact of any legal challenge in terms cost and reputation to the council.
Cllr Charlie Farrelly called for the legal advice to be sent to councillors in full, so they could explain it to their constituents.
Ms Murrell was told she can’t share the legal advice, as it would prejudice any possible judicial review taken.
However, she committed to publishing the paragraph she'd shared with members, and an explanation as to why she couldn't publish the legal advice in full.
Councillors Johnny Healy-Rae and Deirdre Ferris put forward a joint proposal to write to Minister Burke to highlight their disappointment with his wind energy direction and to seek a deputation with him to discuss the matter.
