Northern Ireland

Stormont spends £70,000 on failed incinerator court case – but costs still mounting

For nearly two years, Northern Ireland has not had a properly functioning devolved government at Stormont following the power-sharing executive's collapse in the wake of the RHI scandal. Picture by Mal McCann
For nearly two years, Northern Ireland has not had a properly functioning devolved government at Stormont following the power-sharing executive's collapse in the wake of the RHI scandal. Picture by Mal McCann For nearly two years, Northern Ireland has not had a properly functioning devolved government at Stormont following the power-sharing executive's collapse in the wake of the RHI scandal. Picture by Mal McCann

STORMONT chiefs have racked up a legal bill of almost £70,000 for their failed bid to defend approving a controversial waste incinerator in the absence of ministers – and the costs are still mounting.

The courts last year quashed the Department for Infrastructure's decision to grant planning permission for the Arc21 facility at Mallusk in Co Antrim.

Judges ruled that civil servants did not have the legal power to approve the £240m project without sign-off from Stormont executive ministers.

The Department for Infrastructure (DfI) had tried to defend its stance in the High Court legal challenge and unsuccessfully brought the case to the Court of Appeal.

It has no plans to appeal to the Supreme Court.

The court ruling cast doubt on what decisions civil servants have the authority to make in the continued absence of a functioning Stormont executive.

Since April 2016, the legal costs incurred in the court challenge have amounted to £68,340.53.

This comprises of £43,968.33 on counsel costs, £23,740.20 spent on the departmental solicitor's office, and outlays of £632.

However, DfI said the full cost "will not be known until the final legal invoices have been submitted and ultimately paid".

The details were released in response to a Freedom of Information request from The Irish News.

DfI said it was unable to provide a breakdown between the amount spent defending the High Court challenge and the Court of Appeal case costs "as they have not been billed separately".

For nearly two years, Northern Ireland has not had a properly functioning devolved government following the power-sharing executive's collapse in the wake of the RHI scandal – leaving civil servants to manage departments in the absence of ministers.

In October, Westminster passed legislation in a bid to give Stormont officials greater legal clarity on decision-making without ministerial sign-off.

The Arc21 incinerator, which has attracted vocal opposition, is among several planning projects impacted by Stormont's collapse.

In November, DfI withdrew from defending a legal challenge to plans for the A5 road project.

A lawyer for the department asked a judge to quash the decision to proceed with work on the main Derry-Dublin route, saying that DfI "considers it no longer in the public interest to defend these proceedings".

The outcome was based on the decision having been given in the absence of a minister.

In September, DfI said the Casement Park GAA stadium project in west Belfast was "not being progressed" without ministers, and the department was "awaiting new costs from a revised business case".

Last week in an Irish News interview, Antrim GAA's new chairman Ciaran McCavana insisted that "Casement will be built and will get started under my watch".