An Taisce and Friends of the Irish Environment (FIE) have urged Minister for Climate, Environment and Energy, Darragh O'Brien to scrap a new consultation on legal cost rules for environmental cases.  

This consultation relates to changes to the rules on the legal costs that non-governmental organisations (NGOs), civil society groups, and members of the public could recover following successful environmental judicial reviews. 

A statement from the two groups said: “The regulation of legal costs is a critical factor allowing members of the public and organisations to go to court to protect the environment by enforcing environmental law.

"It is widely recognised that high costs in the Irish legal system are a significant financial barrier for the public.

According to the statement, this “would not only effectively stop most public interest environmental litigation, but it is unlawful under EU law and international law that Ireland has signed up to”. 

The organisations said that the consultation has been carried out in a way that is “unlawful”, for the following reasons: 

It is presented as “a fait-accompli and not at the formative stage when public input should be sought to shape the proposals”;
The information presented "is confusing and incomprehensible”;
Key factors, including information about how much litigation would actually cost applicants consequent on the proposal, "have not been disclosed”.

They added that critical research “was not published until December 23 [2025], almost three weeks after the consultation began”.

Additionally, they criticised the timing of the consultation, saying that many members of the public "may only find out about this additional complex information until much later given the holiday break, with the deadline for the consultation being just next Thursday [January 15].”

And finally, the organisations say that “certain public sector parties who are regularly involved in litigation as respondents were involved in the preparation of the consultation to the exclusion of other stakeholders, such as the public who act as applicants”.

'Implications'

According to FIE: “This consultation has profound implications for the environment, the public and Ireland’s legal obligations, but despite over two years’ of preparatory work it was rushed out over Christmas with critical information drip-fed to the public.” 

An Taisce added that the “This is a wholly inappropriate way to hold a consultation, not least by the department with responsibility for the Aarhus Convention on the rights to public participation and access to justice.

“We have been contacted by numerous members of the public asking us to explain the consequences of the proposed costs caps.

"The information is so confusing and unclear that we have had to conduct our own information seminar and put together materials to inform the public, at least to the extent we can give the serious deficits in the information provided," An Taisce added.