There is significant unease within the Green Party regarding some aspects of proposals to overhaul the planning system which were signed off at a meeting of the Cabinet.
The new Planning and Development Bill includes steps would limit the ability of groups such as residents associations to take judicial reviews.
Green Party TD Steven Matthews, who is also chairman of the Oireachtas Housing Committee, told RTÉ News "we have major reservations about any measures to restrict individuals or groups seeking judicial review".
He said the legislation will be subject to "extensive pre-legislative scrutiny" at the committee.
At a press briefing, when asked if limiting judicial reviews was supported by the Greens, a spokesman for the party said it wanted to see "as many people as possible being able to have access to justice".
The document published by the Department of Housing said "where an organisation, for example a residents association, seeks to take a judicial review, it will have to be taken by an individual or individuals, rather than by the association".
A number of Green Ministers at Cabinet made observations about the planned legislation.
Green Party Ministers Catherine Martin and Roderic O'Gorman are understood to have raised issues with "access to justice" regarding the legislation at Cabinet.
A spokesman for Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the legislation will "clarify who can take a review".
The pre-legislative scrutiny process means there will be opportunities for the proposed new law to be amended as it makes its way through the Oireachtas.
Green Party leader Eamon Ryan said the issues would be addressed when the legislation is before the Committee.
"I think this is important legislation, critical to meet our housing and our climate targets, and also, I think it will enhance access to justice, including on the cost issue. So, I look forward to the pre-legislative scrutiny process, and I think that'll help iron out a lot of concerns people may have."
The proposal was brought by Minister for Housing Darragh O'Brien with the stated aim of ensuring that the provisions of the Planning and Development Act are aligned with Government policy and are more accessible and streamlined from a legal perspective.
An Bord Pleanála will be renamed as An Coimisiún Pleanála and restructured to include a Chief Planning Commissioner and 15 planning commissioners.
There will also be a Governing Executive.
The new planning entity will have to abide by new timelines for dealing with appeals.
Timelines will also be introduced to the various steps in the judicial review process, for the stated aim of ensuring a consistency of approach.
Residents' associations will no longer be able to take a judicial review.
Instead, it will have to be undertaken by an individual or individuals.
The measures have been criticised by opposition TDs and An Taisce.
One provision still being developed is costs protection for judicial review cases.
The legislation further envisages increased capacity for local authorities to utilise Compulsory Purchase Orders and allows planning authorities to sanction works to enable residential use of a protected structure.
'Wholly inappropriate political response'
An Taisce has criticised the Government's proposed overhaul of the planning system, describing it as a "power grab" by Mr O'Brien.
Speaking on RTÉ’s News at One, Planning and Environmental Policy Officer Phoebe Duvall said the bill was a "wholly inappropriate political response" to issues blighting An Bord Pleanála.
"The bill gives the minister unchecked powers and carte blanche to establish a new procedure for appointing ordinary board members to An Bord Pleanála, and the power to ultimately decide on those appointments," Ms Duvall said.
She added that there is no detail in the bill on what that procedure will look like and that lack of detail allows the space for "any procedure the minister of the day wants to make up and provides no Oireachtas oversight".
Ms Duvall said that these proposed changes to An Bord Pleanála would not restore the public’s confidence in the crisis-stricken agency, and would also compromise its independence.
The Government has said that the proposed bill will be a temporary measure to urgently fill vacancies at An Bord Pleanála.
However, Ms Duvall, claims the minister already has the authority to do that.
"The Government is now exploiting that failure to change the entire An Bord Pleanála appointments process to concentrate power in the hands of the minister," she said.
Reform of planning is 'vital'
Speaking on his way into the Cabinet meeting this morning, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the planning legislation is the most significant issue to be discussed at the meeting, adding that part of the issue with planning is an "inordinate length of time" for some projects to get through the planning system.
Mr Martin said there would be a new planning commission and timelines to specify from the date of application there would be an expectation of getting a planning decision, which he said is important for housing and climate change.
Green Party leader Eamon Ryan said that the planning system is too complicated and is not serving the Irish people.
He said the legislation will reduce the cost and delay for people involved in the planning system.
Mr Ryan said it was "vital" because the act from 2000 currently had contradictory clauses in the legislation.
He said the current system was "so open to judicial review" it was "not good for anyone" and added "it does need reform".
"We need it as well if we are addressing the housing crisis. We have to make planning decision in a timely manner."
Opposition parties have strongly criticised the Government's proposals for the planning system, with Social Democrats TD Cian O'Callaghan suggesting that provisions would undermine the independence of the reformed An Bord Pleanála.
Mr O'Brien argues the system needs to be streamlined and made more efficient, as too many big decisions are being taken by the courts.
However, Mr O'Callaghan claimed today that the move is "backward and regressive".
He said it is "not acceptable" that a minister can make appointments to An Bord Pleanála when the authority should have procedures which ensure its independence.
People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett said it was "absolute nonsense" to suggest that residents associations were delaying the planning process.
He said planning permission has been granted to 70,000 apartments, however only 5,000 are being delivered because, he argued, investors are drip-feeding property into the market to keep prices and rents high.
Additional reporting Paul Cunningham
