Sinn Féin’s Eoin Ó Broin has defended environmental NGOs, insisting they are not responsible for recent planning delays, after strong criticism by the CEO of Uisce Éireann who said environmentally-based planning objections were costing the state “billions.”
Ó Broin’s comments follow remarks made last week by Uisce Éireann CEO Niall Gleeson, who argued that planning objections from environmental groups and activists were significantly delaying major projects, resulting in increased costs for the state.
As reported by The Irish Mirror, Gleeson specifically criticised groups he accused of “holding up processes on the basis of being environmental crusaders,” calling them costly to taxpayers and harmful to the common good.
Speaking to Gript at Leinster House this week, Sinn Féin’s housing spokesman said judicial reviews and planning objections were an inevitable part of the democratic planning process, regardless of personal opinions.
“People are going to take judicial reviews, whether you like it or I like it,” he said.
Ó Broin was asked about the case of An Taisce, Ireland’s oldest State-funded environmental NGO, which was embroiled in a controversial saga in 2021 and 2022 where they serially objected to a €140 million Glanbia cheese plant on environmental grounds, appealing the decision and dragging out the process.
Ó Broin emphasised that An Taisce’s legal actions are funded entirely through their own resources, not state funding.
“An Taisce don’t and can’t use any state funding for any of the litigation they take on any planning applications,” he explained. 
“The state funding they receive is for a series of state-supported programs, particularly around environmental awareness in schools and environmental awareness of some of our public utilities.”
He maintained the primary issue was inadequate resources provided by the government to local councils, An Bord Pleanála, and the High Court, rather than the actions of NGOs.
“[We need to] make sure that if somebody’s going to lodge an appeal to the board, or if somebody’s going to initiate a judicial review, everybody knows how long that’s going to take,” he said.
“If adequate resources, in terms of staffing, were put into the councils, the board, and the High Court – and if every aspect of that process was statutorily timelined -then we would have absolute certainty, and there wouldn’t be time-wasting.”
He highlighted the Greater Dublin Drainage project, noting significant delays despite judicial review action being initiated years ago.
“That’s nothing to do with the people who took the JR – that’s to do with a lack of resourcing for the board by government,” Ó Broin stated.
He further expressed concern over the government’s tendency to blame external parties rather than addressing internal issues directly.
“I get nervous when I hear government backbenchers or government ministers blame other people for failures that are squarely on the government,” he said. “Put in place statutory timelines. Put in place the resources. And those issues will be dealt with by the appropriate bodies in a timely manner.”
This week, Sinn Féin moved a Dáil motion calling for increased investment and staffing in water, electricity, and planning infrastructures to address ongoing delays in housing and infrastructure projects.